*o9 

V^ f V V*^>* %%??!& J> *< 

i- %/ -VSR* «u^ .*^C^ ^.^ .*MR' 
■ 



' 







1 \> 



o, V^VyV 







- 









1 .*i!Lr* ^ v •!"•* 










°q, *."S^'* A o- 






'♦♦~v •$$?•*. «**\ 






'.**&:% ^'issLi.^ <*.•;*&/% -" c 












v ***** ®* a9 »* 






-^ \« fc '♦ ^b .0* oil** "*0 ***•**•• ** 



















r ^ -- 






Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofgenera09wood 



ORB IS 

1ERRARUM 
VeteribiislSbtus 

AnctoreDAn ville. 




k VI.VI.KI.irlA G E B- M A IS I A 



HE 



1LVETIA 



\ OB l <' v ^ r 



DACIA 



ITALIA, 

G JL CE C I A, 

A s I 

8pc. 



a ^&, i 

tf/iiil'i" r * 

■'''"•'•" tTTVi ji 4 > 



G E T JL 






l.vft-r 



,i DC 



■*•£ 



f7. 



V 






M CE S lAIn/irioT 



SCYTHIA 



, e 7»".r JK 



-' , 



t 



lb 



;o^ 



A Xi a 



. &■/>, 



* 



Saler/mn 






o. 



Apofonw **>■ 






H R A C/T A I '# iiM ,Kf 

naarianpp0us 
Bhffippi 



J//,r.r,-/,>, 



s 



y 



' '- r g 



L Wgv„. v „7, 



MY8 IA /^"i^.. 



H&omicUa 



/,/,,/„ 



Canhagfo 



'''- ' v '.r 



(Vphaiema 



AT> 1 



teiA^& 



FAPHL 



-:li, J. 



Samoa 



PISIDIA 






Tiiiiiirimn 



•inmn 7> 



Rhocfc 



s.W V 



.oS 






ELEMENTS 



OF 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



TO WHICH ARE ADDER 



A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY, &c. &c 



BY ALEX. FRASER TYTLER, F. R. S. E. 

ROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, AUTHOR OF THt 
LIFE OF LORD KAMES, &c. 



ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS, 

SECOND AMERICAN EDITION, FROM THE FIFTH BRITISH, 1812. 



PHILADELPHIA 

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS NICHOL6. 
1813. 




DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, to wit : 

Be it remembered, That on the fourteenth day of January, in the thirty 
seventh year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1813, 
Francis Nichols, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the Title 
of a book the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following', 
to wit : 

" Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern. To which are added a 
" Table of Chronology, &c. &c. By Alex. Fraser Tytler, F. R. S. E. Pro- 
" fessor of History in the University of Edinburgh, Author of the Life of Lord 
"Karnes, &c. Illustrated by maps. Second American edition, from the fifth 
« British, 1812." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, 
" An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, 
Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the 
Times therein mentioned." — And also to the Act, intitled, " An Act supplemen- 
tary to an Act, intitled " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by se- 
curing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of 
such Copies during the Times therein mentioned," and extending the Benefits 
thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other 
Prints." 

D. CALDWELL, 

Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 



Gift 
Mrs. Hennen Jennings 
April 26, 1933 






PREFACE. 

X HE following work contains the outlines of a Course 
of Lectures on General History, delivered for many years 
in the University of Edinburgh, and received with a por- 
tion of the public approbation amply sufficient to compen- 
sate the labours of the author. He began to compose 
these Elements principally with the view of furnishing 
an aid to the students attending his Lectures; but soon 
conceived, that, by giving a little more amplitude to their 
composition, he might render them of more general utili- 
ty. As now given to the public, he would willingly flat- 
ter himself that this work may be not only serviceable to 
youth, in furnishing a regular plan for the prosecution of 
this important study, but useful even to those who have 
acquired a competent knowledge of general history from 
the perusal of the works of detached historians, and who 
wish to methodize that knowledge, or even to refresh 
their memory on material facts and the order of events. 

In the composition of these Elements the author has 
endeavoured to unite with the detail of facts, so much of 
reflection as to assist the mind in the formation of rational 
views of the causes and consequences of events, as well 
as of the policy of the actors; but he has anxiously 
guarded against that speculative refinement which has 
sometimes entered into works of this nature. Such works 
profess to exhibit the philosophy or the spirit of history, 
but are more adapted to display the writer's ingenuity 

A* 



IV PREFACE. 

as a theorist, or talents as a rhetorician, than to instruct 
the reader in the more useful knowledge of historical 
facts. 

As the progress of the human mind forms a capital 
object in the study of history, the state of the arts and 
sciences, the religion, laws, government, and manners of 
nations, are material parts, even in an elementary work 
of this nature. The history of literature is a most im- 
portant article in this study. The author has therefore 
endeavoured to give to each of these topics its due share 
of attention ; and in that view they are separately treated, 
in distinct sections, at particular periods of time. 

Of any merits which this work may possess, beyond 
those of simplicity and perspicuity, they are the best 
judges, who have an extensive knowledge of the subject, 
and who know the difficulty of giving general views, and 
of analysing a branch of learning so comprehensive and 
complicated as Universal History. 

ALEX. FKASER TYTLER, 

Edinburgh? April, 18Qi« 



ADVERTISEMENT 

To the Second and Fifth British Editions, and to the 
Second American Edition. 

In the Second Edition a few omissions have been sup- 
plied, and some amplifications made in the text, where 
they seemed necessary to the illustration of the subject. 
The whole work has undergone an attentive revisal, and 
is rendered more worthy of the favourable reception 
which the public indulgence has already given to it. 

In this Fifth Edition, beside many corrections both in 
the matter and style, the Table of Chronology is enlarged 
and improved. 

In the American Edition of this valuable book, some 
useful additions have been made, which may be consi- 
dered as supplements to certain parts of the work. They 
are contained in an Appendix, and are designated by the 
names of their authors. The account of America was 
corrected and enlarged by the author of American An- 
nals. The Chronological Table of Illustrious Persons 
has been greatly enlarged and improved : and, in its pre- 
sent form, exhibits a copious catalogue of celebrated 
names, from which the lovers of biography may select 
proper objects for their entertainment and instruction. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Advantages arising from the Study of History, and more par- 
ticularly from prosecuting it according to a regular Plan 1 

PLAN OF THE COURSE - - - ' - 4 

PART I. 
ANCIENT HISTORY. 

Section I. Earliest authentic Accounts of the History of 

the World - - - - - li 
Sect. II. Considerations on the Nature of the First Gov- 
ernments, and on the Laws, Customs, Arts and Sciences 

of the first Ages - - - - - 12 

Sect. III. Of the Egyptians - - - - 16 

Sect. IV. Of the Phoenicians - - - 19 

Sect. V. The History of Greece - - 19 
Sect. VI. Reflections on the first and rudest Periods of the 

Grecian History - - - - - 21 
Sect. VII. Early period of the Grecian History. Argonau- 

tic Expedition. Wars of Thebes and Troy - - 22 
Sect. VIII. Establishment of the Greek Colonies - 24 
Sect. IX. The Republic of Sparta - - 25 
Sect. X. The Republic of Athens - - - 28 
Sect. XI. Of the State of the Persian Empire, and its His- 
tory down to the War with Greece - - 3 1 
Sect XII. The War between Greece and Persia - 34 
Sect. XIII. Age of Pericles - 37 
Sect. XIV. The Republic of Thebes ... 39 
Sect. XV. Philip of Macedon 40 
Sect. XVI. Alexander the Great - 42 
Sect. XVII. Successors of Alexander - . _ 45 
Sect. XVIII. Fall and Conquest of Greece - - 46 



viii CONTENTS* 

Page 
Sect. XIX. Political Reflections arising from the History 

of the States of Greece ---=, = . 48 

Sect. XX. State of the Arts in Greece - 50 

Sect. XXI. Of the Greek Poets - - 53 

Sect. XXII. Of the Greek Historians - - 56 

Sect. XXIII. Of the Greek Philosophers - 58 

Sect. XXIV. The History of Rome - 62 
Reflections on the Government and State of Rome under 

the Kings - - - - 68 

Sect. XXV. Rome under the Consuls - - - 69 

Sect. XXVI. The Laws of Volero 73 

Sect. XXVII. The Decemvirate - 75 

Sect. XXVIII. Increase of the Popular Power - - 76 

Sect. XXIX. Conquest of Italy by the Romans - 79 

Sect. XXX. History of Carthage - ~ - 80 

Sect. XXXI. History of Sicily - - - 81 

Sect. XXXII. The Punic Wars - - - -83 
Sect. XXXIII. The Gracchi, and the Corruption of the 

Commonwealth - - - - 87 
Sect. XXXIV. Progress of the Civil Wars. Second Tri- 
umvirate, and Fall of the Republic - - - 91 
Sect. XXXV. Considerations on such particulars as mark 

the Genius and national Character of the Romans 96 

System of Roman Education - ... 96 
Sect. XXXVI. Of the Progress of Literature among the 

Romans __---- 98 

Sect. XXXVII. State of Philosophy among the Romans 103 
Sect. XXXVIII. Of the Public and Private Manners of the 

Romans - - - - - 105 

Sect. XXXIX. Of the Art of War among the Romans 108 
Sect. XL. Reflections arising from a View of the Roman 

History during the Commonwealth - - - Hi 

Sect. XLI. Rome under the Emperors - 114 

Sect. XLII. The same subject continued - - - 119 

Sect. XLIII. Age of the Antonines, &x. - 124 
Sect. XLIV. State of the Roman Empire at the time of 

Constantine. His Successors - - - 128 
Sect. XLV. Progress of the Christian Religion, from its 

Institution to the Extinction of Paganism in the Reign 

ofTheodosius - -" < - 132 

Sect. XLVI. Extinction of the Roman Empire in the West 135 



CONTENTS. IX 

Page 
Sect. XL VII. Of the Origin, Manners, and Character of the 

Gothic Nations before their establishment in the Ro- 
man Empire - - - - 139 

Sect. XL VIII. Of the Manners, Laws, and Government of 
the Gothic Nations after their establishment in the Ro- 
man Empire - - - - 143 

Sect. XLIX. Ivlethod of studying Ancient History - 147 

Comparative View of Ancient and Modern Geography 153 



PART II. 

MODERN HISTORY. 

Sect. I. OF Arabia and the Empire of the Saracens «-, \7l 

Sect. II. Monarchy of the Franks - 173 

Sect. III. Reflections on the State of France during the 

Merovingian race of its Kings. - - - 176 

Sect. IV. Charlemagne. The new Empire of the West 180 
Sect. V. Manners, Government, and Customs of the Age of 

Charlemagne - - - - -182 

Sect. VI. Retrospective View of the Affairs of the Church 

before the Age of Charlemagne - • - - 185 

Sect. VII. Empire of the West under the Successors of 

Charlemagne - - - » -187 

Sect. VIII. Empire of the East during the Eighth and Ninth 

Centuries - - » - - -190 

Sect. IX. State of the Church in the Eighth and Ninth 

Centuries - - - - -191 

Sect. X. Of the Saracens in the Eighth and Ninth Cen- 
turies _._--_ 193 
Sect. XI. Empire of the West and Italy in the Tenth and 

Eleventh Centuries - - - - 195 

Sect. XII. History of Britain from its earliest Period down 

to the Norman Conquest - 19? 

Sect. XIII. Of the Government, Laws, and Manners of the 

Anglo-Saxons ----- 203 

Sect. XIV. State of Europe during the Tenth, Eleventh, 

and Twelfth Centuries - 3Q& 



"X CONTENTS. 

Page 
Sect. XV. History of England in the Eleventh, Twelfth, 

and part of the Thirteenth Centuries - - 208 

Sect. XVI. State of Germany and Italy in the Thirteenth 

Century - - - - - - 216 

Sect. XVII. The Crusades or Holy Wars - 216 

Sect. XVIII. Of Chivalry and Romance - - 221 

Sect. XIX. State of Europe in the Thirteenth and Four- 
teenth Centuries - 224 

Sect. XX. Revolution of Switzerland - 227 

Sect. XXI. State of Europe continued in the Thirteenth, 

Fourteenth, and part of the Fifteenth Centuries - 228 

Sect. XXII. History of England in the Thirteenth Cen- 
tury ---.__ 229 

Sect. XXIII. History of Scotland from the Eleventh to the 

Fourteenth Century - - - 231 

Sect. XXIV. History of England in the Fourteenth Cen- 
tury --.__„ 234 

Sect. XXV. England and France in the Fifteenth Century. 

State of Manners - - - - -236 

Sect. XXVI. Decline and Fall of the Greek Empire - 239 

Sect. XXVII. Government and Policy of the Turkish 

Empire ».--._ 241 

Sect. XXVIII. France and Italy in the End of the Fifteenth 

Century _---_. 242 

Sect. XXIX. History of Spain in the Fourteenth and Fif- 
teenth Centuries - 244 

Sect. XXX. France, Spain, and Italy, in the End of the 

Fifteenth and Beginning of the Sixteenth Century - 246 

Sect. XXXI. History of England from the Middle of the 
Fifteenth to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century. 
Civil Wars of York and Lancaster - - 247 

Sect. XXXII. History of Scotland from the Middle of the 
Fourteenth Century to the End of the Reign of 
James V - - - - - - 251 

Sect. XXXIII. Of the Ancient Constitution of the Scottish 

Government - 254 

Sect. XXXIV. A View of the Progress of Literature and 
Science in Europe from the Revival of Letters to the 
End of the Fifteenth Century - - _ 256 

Sect. XXXV. View of the Progress of Commerce in Eu- 
rope before the Portuguese Discoveries - - 260 



CONTENTS* XI 

Page 

Sect. XXXVI. Discoveries of the Portugeuse in the Fif- 
teenth Century, and their Effects on the Commerce of 
Europe __. = .. 264 

Sect. XXXVII. Germany and France in the Reigns of 

Charles V and Francis I - - - - 268 

Sect. XXXVIII. Observations on the Constitution of the 

German Empire - - - - - 271 

Sect. XXXIX. Of the Reformation in Germany and Switz- 
erland, and the Revolution in Denmark and Sweden 274 

Sect. XL. Of the Reformation in England under Henry VIII 

and his Successors - 277 

Sect. XLI. Of the Discovery and Conquest of America by 

the Spaniards - 279 

Sect. XLII Possessions of the other European Nations in 

America ---___ 285 

Sect. XLIII. Of the State of the Fine Arts in Europe, in 

the Age of Leo X - 287 

Sect. XLIV. Of the Ottoman Power in the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury - - - - - 291 

Sect. XLV. State of Persia, and the other Asiatic Kine- 

doms, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 292 

Sect. XLVI. History of India - - _ 294 

Sect. XLVII. Ancient State of India ; Manners, Laws, Arts 

and Sciences, and Religion, of the Hindoos - 296 

Sect. XLVIII. Of China and Japan - 299 

Sect. XLIX. Of the Antiquity of the Empire of China. 
State of the Arts and Sciences, Manners, Govern- 
ment, Laws - - - - - 300 

Sect. L. Mr. Bailly's Theory of the Origin of the Sciences 

among the Nations of Asia - 305 

Sect. LI. Reign of Philip II of Spain. Revolution of the 
Netherlands, and Establishment of the Republic of 
Holland - - - - - _ 309 

Sect. LII. Of the Constitution and Government of the 

United Provinces - - . - 3 1 1 

Sect. LIII. Reign of Philip II continued - _ 313 

Sect. LIV. State of France in the End of the Sixteenth 
Century, under Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX, 
Henry III, and Henry IV - - - - 314 

Sect. LV. History of England and of Scotland in the Reigns 

of Elizabeth 'and Mary Queen of Scots - 317 



Xii -fcONfENTS, 

Page 
Sect. LVI. History of Great Britain in the Reigns of James I 

and Charles I 322 
Sect. LVII. The Commonwealth of England - - 329 
Sect. LVIII. The Reigns of Charles II and James II - 340 
Sect. LIX. On the British Constitution - - 343 
Sect. LX. Of the Public Revenue of Great Britain - 349 
Sect. LXI. History of France under Lewis XIII - 351 
Sect. LXI I. Spain under Philip III and Philip IV. Consti- 
tution of Portugal and Spain - - 353 
Sect. LXIII. Affairs of Germany from the Abdication of 

Charles V to the Peace of Westphalia - - 355 
Sect. LXIV. France under Lewis XIV - - 356 
Sect. LXV. On the Constitution of France under the Mo- 
narchy .---_> 362 
Sect. LXVI. Of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, and 

Charles XII, King of Sweden - 365 

Sect. LXVII. A View of the Progress of Science and Li- 
terature in Europe, from the End of the Fifteenth to 

the End of the Sixteenth Century - - 369 



APPENDIX. 

Sect. I. Of the Religion of the Greeks and Romans - 375 
Sect. II. Of the Magnificence of the City of Rome, and 

the wide Extent of the Roman Empire - - 379 

Sect. III. The History of the Jews after the close of the 

Old Testament ----- 383 
Sect. IV. Of the Jewish Government - 384 

Sect. V. Of the Constitution of the United States of 

America ------ 388 

Compendious View of the Christian Church.— A Table of Chro- 
nology. — A Table of Biography, &c 




INTRODUCTION 



ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM THE STUDY OF HISTORY, AND 
MORE PARTICULARLY FROM PROSECUTING IT ACCORDING 
TO A REGULAR PLAN. 

1. THE value of any science is to be estimated according 
to its tendency to promote improvement, either in private 
virtue, or in those qualities which render man extensively 
useful in society. Some objects of pursuit have a secondary 
utility : in furnishing* rational amusement, which, relieving 
the mind at intervals from the fatigue of serious occupation, 
invigorates and prepares it for fresh exertion. It is the 
perfection of any science, to unite these advantages, to pro- 
mote the advancement of public and private virtue, and to 
supply such a degree of amusement, as to supersede the ne- 
cessity of recurring to frivolous pursuits for the sake of re= 
taxation. Under this description fails the science of history. 

2. History, says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, is " philosophy 
teaching by examples. 5 " The superior efficacy of example to 
precept is universally acknowledged. All the laws of mo- 
rality and rules of conduct are verified hj experience, and are 
constantly submitted to its test and examination. History, 
which adds to our own experience an immense treasure of the 
experience of others, furnishes innumerable proofs, by which 
we may verify all the precepts of morality and of prudence. 

3. History, beside its general advantages, has a distinct 
species of utility to different men, according to their several 
ranks in society, and occupations in life. 

4. In this country it is an indispensable duty of every man 
of liberal birth, to be acquainted, in a certain degree, with 
the science of politics ; and history is the school of polities. 

A 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

It opens to us the springs of human affairs ; the causes of the 
rise, grandeur, revolutions, and fall of empires ; it points out 
the reciprocal influence of government and of national man- 
ners ; it dissipates prejudices, nourishes the love of our coun- 
try, and directs to the hest means of its improvement ; it 
illustrates equally the blessings of political union, and the 
miseries of faction ; the danger, on one hand, of uncontrolled 
liberty, and, on the other, the debasing influence of despotic 
power. 

1 5. It is necessary that the study of history should be pro- 
secuted according to a regular plan : for this science, more 
perhaps than any other, is liable to perversion from its pro- 
per use. With some it is no better than an idle amusement ; 
with others it is the food of vanity ; with a third class it fos- 
ters the prejudices of party, and leads to political bigotry. 
It is dangerous for those who, even with the best intentions, 
seek for historical knowledge, to pursue the study without a 
guide ; for no science has been so little methodized. The 
sources of prejudice are infinite ; and the mind of youth 
should not be left undirected amidst the erring, the partial, 
and contradictory representations of historians. Beside the 
importance of being able to discriminate truth from false- 
hood, the attention ought to be directed only to useful truths. 
Much danger arises from the perusal of memoirs, collections 
of anecdotes, &c. ; for many of those works exhibit the most 
depraved pictures, weaken our confidence in virtue, and pre- 
sent the most unfavourable views of human nature. 

6. There are many difficulties which attend the attempt of 
forming a proper plan of study, and giving an instructive 
view of general history. Utility is to be reconciled with 
amusement, prejudices are to be encountered, variety of taste 
to be consulted, political opinions balanced, judgment and 
decision exercised, on topics keenly controverted. The pro- 
poser of such a plan ought therefore to be possessed equally 
of firmness of mind and moderation of sentiment. In many 
cases he must abandon popularity for the calm approbation 
of his own conscience. Disregarding every partial and in- 
ferior consideration, he must direct his view solely to the 



INTRODUCTION. 



proper end of all education, the forming of good men, and of 
good citizens. 

7. The object and general purpose of the following course 
is to exhibit a progressive view of the state of mankind, from 
the earliest ages of which we have any authentic accounts, 
down to the close of the 17th century, to delineate the origin 
of states and of empires, the great outlines of their history, 
the revolutions which they have undergone, the causes which 
have contributed to their rise and grandeur, and operated to 
their decline and extinction. For these purposes it is neces- 
sary to bestow particular attention on the manners of na- 
tions, their laws, the nature of their governments, their 
religion, their intellectual improvements, and their progress 
in the arts and sciences. 



PLAN OF THE COURSE 



TWO opposite methods have been followed in giving aca- 
demieal lectures on the study of history : one exhibiting a 
strict chronological arrangement of events, upon the plan of 
Turselline's Epitome ; the other, a series of disquisitions on 
the various heads or titles of public law, and the doctrines of 
politics ; illustrated by examples drawn from ancient and 
modern history. Objections occur to both these methods : 
the former furnishes only a dry chronicle of events, which 
nothing connects together but the order of time ; the latter 
is insufficient for the most important purposes of history, the 
tracing of events to their causes, the detection of the springs 
of human actions, the display of the progress of society, and 
of the rise and fall of states and empires; finally, by confin- 
ing history to the exemplification of the doctrines of politics, 
we lose its effect as a school of morals. 

In the following lectures we hold a middle course between 
these extremes, and endeavour, by remedying the imperfec- 
tion of each, to unite, if possible, the advantages of both. 

While so much regard is had to chronology as is necessary 
for showing the progress of mankind in society, and com- 
municating just ideas of the state of the world in all the 
different ages to which authentic history extends, we shall, 
in the delineation of the rise and fall of empires, and of their 
revolutions, pay more attention to the connection of subject 
than of time. 

In this view we must reject the common method of arrang- 
ing general history according to epochs, or seras. 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. 5 

When the world is viewed at any period either of ancient or 
of modern history, we generally observe one nation or empire 
predominant, to which all the rest bear, as it were, an under 
part, and to whose history we find that the principal events in 
the annals of other nations may be referred from some natural 
connection. This predominant empire or state it is proposed 
to exhibit to view as the principal object, whose history there- 
fore is to be more fully delineated, while the rest are only inci- 
dentally touched when they eome to have a natural connection 
with the principal. 

The Jewish history, belonging to a different department of 
academical education, enters not into the plan of these lec- 
tures ; though we often resort to the sacred writings for de- 
tached facts illustrative of the manners of ancient nations. 
See Jlppendiac. 

In the ancient world, among the profane nations, the 
Greeks are the earliest people who make a distinguished 
figure, and whose history is at the same time authentic. 

The Greeks owed their civilization to the Egyptians and 
Phosnicians. The Grecian history is therefore properly in- 
troduced by a short account of these nations, and of the As- 
syrians, their rivals, conquered at one time by the Egyptians, 
and afterward conquerors of them in their turn. 

Rise of the independent states of Greece, and singular con- 
stitution of the two great republics of Sparta and Athens. 

The war of Greece with Persia induces a short account of 
the preceding periods of the history of that nation, the rise 
of the Persian monarchy, the nature of its government, man- 
ners, and religion. 

The Grecian history is pursued through all the revolu- 
tions of the nation, till Greece becomes a province of the 
Roman empire. 

Political reflections applicable to the history of the states 

of Greece.- — Progress of the Greeks in the arts. Of the 

Greek poets,' — historians, — philosophers. 

Rome, after the conquest of Greece, becomes the leading 
object of attention. 



6 PLAN OF THE COURSE. 

Origin of the Romans Nature of their government under 

the kings. — Easy substitution of the consular for the regal 
dignity. — Subsequent changes in the constitution. — Progress 
to a democracy. — Extension of the Roman arms. — Conquest 
of Italy. — Wars with foreign nations. 

The Punic wars open a collateral view to the history of 
Carthage and of Sicily. 

Success of the Roman arms in Asia, Macedonia, and 
Greece. — Opulence of the republic from her conquests, and 
corruption of her manners. — The civil wars, and ruin of the 
commonwealth. 

Particulars which mark the genius and national spirit of 
the Romans: — education, — laws, — literary character, — art of 
war, — public and private manners. 

Rome under the emperors. Artful policy by which the 
first emperors disguised their absolute authority. — Decline 
of the ambitious character of the Romans. — Easy submission 
to the loss of civil liberty. — The military spirit purposely 
abased by the emperors. — The empire divided becomes a 
languid body, without interna! vigour.— The Gothic nations 
pour down from the north. — Italy conquered successively by 
the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Lombards. — Extinction of the 
western empire. 

The manners, genius, laws, and government of the Gothic 
nations form an important object of inquiry, from their in- 
fluence on the manners and policy of the modern European 
kingdoms. 



In the delineation of modern history the leading objects of 
attention are more various ; the scene is oftener changed : 
nations, too, which for a while occupy the chief attention, 
become for a time subordinate, and afterward re-assume 
their rank as principal ,• yet the same plan is pursued as in 
the department of ancient history : the picture is occupied 
only by one great object at a time, to which all the rest hold 



PLAN OF THE COURSE. 7 

an inferior rank, and are taken notice of only when connected 
with the principal. 

Upon the fall of the western empire, the Saracens are the 
first Avho distinguish themselves by the extension of their 
conquests, and the splendour of their dominion. 

While the Saracens extend their arms in the east and in 
Africa, a new empire of the west is founded by Charlemagne. 
—The rise and progress of the monarchy of the Franks. 
—The origin of the feudal system. — State of the European 
manners-in the age of Charlemagne.: — Government, arts and 
sciences, literature. 

As collateral objects of attention, we survey the remains 
of the Roman empire in the east ; the conquests and settle- 
ments of the Normans ; the foundation and progress of the 
temporal dominion of the church of Home ; the conquest of 
Spain by the Saracens. 

The conquest of England by the Normans solicits our at- 
tention to the history of Britain. Retrospective view of the 
British history, from its earliest period to the end of the 
Anglo-Saxon government in England.— Observations on the 
government, laws, and manners of the Anglo- Saxons. 

Collateral view of the state of the continental kingdoms of 
Europe, during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries. — - 
France under the Capetian race of monarchs. — Conquests of 
the Normans in Italy and Sicily. — State of the northern king- 
doms of Europe. — The eastern empire. — Empire of Ger- 
many. — Disputes of supremacy between the popes and the 
emperors. 

The history of Britain still the principal object of atten- 
tion. — England under the kings of the Norman line, and the 
first princes of the Plantagenet branch. — The conquest of 
Ireland, under Henry II, introduces an anticipated progres- 
sive view of the political connection between England and 
Ireland down to the present time. — As we proceed in the 
delineation of the British history, we note particularly those 
circumstances which mark the growth of the English con 
stitutioh. 



& PLAN OF THE COURSE. 

At this period all the kingdoms of Europe join in the cru- 
sades. — -A brief account is given of (hose enterprizes. — Moral 

and political effects of the crusades on the nations of Eu- 
rope. — Origin of chivalry, and rise of romantic fiction. 

Short connected sketch of the state of the European na- 
tions after the crusades. — Rise of the house of Austria. — - 
Decline of the feudal government in France. — Establishment 
of the Swiss republics. — Disorders in the popedom. — Council 
of Constance. 

The history of Britain resumed. — England under Henry 
III and Edward I.-^-Tke conquest of Wales. — The history of 
Scotland at this period intimately connected with that of 
England. — View of the Scottish history from Malcolm Can- 
more to Robert Bruee. — State of both kingdoms during the 
reigns of Edward II and III.— The history of France con- 
nected with that of Britain.- — France itself Avon by Henry V. 

The state of the east at this period affords the most in- 
teresting object of attention.— The progress of the Ottoman 
arms retarded for a while by the conquests of Tamerlane 
and of Scauderbeg. — -The Turks prosecute their victories 
under Mahomet the great, to the total extinction of the Con* 
stantinopolitan empire. — The constitution and policy of the 
Turkish empire. 

France, in this age, emancipates herself from the feudal 
servitude; and Spain, by the union of Arragon and Castile, 
and the fail of the kingdom of the Moors, becomes one mo- 
narchy under Ferdinand and Isabella. 

The history of Britain is resumed. — Sketch of the history 
of England down to the reign of Henry VIII ; of Scotland, 
during the reigns of the five Jameses. — Delineation of the 
ancient constitution of the Scottish government. 

The end of the fifteenth century is a remarkable sera in 
the history of Europe. Learning and the sciences underwent 
at that time a very rapid improvement ; and, after ages of 
darkness, shone out at once with surprising lustre. — A con- 
nected view is presented of the progress of literature in Eu- 
rope, from its revival down to this period In the same age 

the advancement of navigation, and the course to India by the 



Plan op the course. 9 

Cape of Good Hope, explored by the Portuguese, affect the 
commerce of all the European kingdoms. 

The age of Charles V unites, in one connected view, the 
affairs of Germany, of Spain, of France, of England, and of 
Italy. The discovery of the new world, the reformation of 
religion in Germany and in England, and the splendour of the 
fine arts under the pontificate of Leo X, render this period 
one of the most interesting in the annals of mankind. 

The pacification of Europe, by the treaty of Catteau Cam- 
bresis, allows us for a while to turn our attention to the state 
of Asia. A short sketch is given of the modern history of 
Persia, and the state of the other kingdoms of Asia, in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; the history of India ; 
the manners, laws, arts and sciences, and religion of the Hin- 
doos ,• the history of China and Japan ; the antiquity of the 
Chinese empire, its manners, laws, government, and attain- 
ments in the arts and sciences. 

Returning to Europe, the attention is directed to the state 
of the continental kingdoms in the age of Philip II. Spain, 
the Netherlands, France, and England, present a various and 
animated picture. 

England under Elizabeth. The progress of the reforma- 
tion in Scotland. — The distracted reign of Mary, queen of 
Scots. — The history of Britain pursued without interruption 
clown to the revolution, and here closed by a sketch of the 
progress of the English constitution, and an examination of 
its nature at this period, when it became fixed and deter- 
mined. 

The history of the southern continental kingdoms is 
brought down to the end of the reign of Louis XIV ; of the 
northern, to the conclusion of the reigns of Charles XII of 
Sweden, and of Peter the great, czar of Muscovy. 

We finish this view of universal history, by a survey of the 
state of the arts and sciences, and of the progress of litera- 
ture in Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies. 



The chronology observed in this View of Universal History 
is that of archbishop Usher, which is founded on the Hebrew 
text of the Sacred Writings. A Table of Chronology is sub- 
joined to these heads, for the ease of the student, 



PART FIRST 



SECTION I. 



EARLIEST AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE HISTORY OF THE 

WOULD. 

.IT is a difficult task to delineate the state of mankind in 
the earliest ages of the world. We want information suffi- 
cient to give us positive ideas on the subject ; but as man ad- 
vances in civilization, and in proportion as history becomes 
useful and important, its certainty increases, and its ma- 
terials are more abundant. 

Various notions have been formed with respect to the po- 
pulation of the antediluvian world and its physical ap- 
pearance ; but as these are rather matters of theory than of 
fact, they scarcely fall within the province of history ; and 
they are of the less consequence, because we are certain that 
the state of those antediluvian ages could have had no ma- 
terial influence on the times which succeeded them. 

The books of Moses afford the earliest authentic history of 
the ages immediately following the deluge. 

About 150 years after that event, Nimrod fjhe Belus of 
profane historians) built Babylon, and Assur built Nineveh, 
which became the capital of the Assyrian empire. 

Ninus the son of Belus, and his queen Semiramis, are said 
to have raised the empire of Assyria to a higher degree of 
splendour. 



12 ANCIENT HISTORY. ?ART r 

From the death of Ninias the son of Ninus, down to the 
revolt of the Medes under Sardanapalus, a period of 800 
years, there is a chasm in the history of Assyria and Babylon- 
This is to be supplied only from conjecture. 

The earliest periods of the Egyptian history are equally 
uncertain with those of the Assyrian. Menes is supposed 
the first king of Egypt ; probably the Misraim of the Holy 
Scriptures, the grandson of Noah, or, as others conjecture, 
the Oziris of Egypt, the inventor of arts, and the civilizer of 
a great part of the eastern world. 

After Menes, or Oziris, Egypt appears to have been divided 
into four dynasties, Thebes, Thin, Memphis, and Tanis ; and 
the people to have attained a considerable degree of civiliza- 
tion : but a period of barbarism succeeded under the shep- 
herd-kings, subsisting for the space of some centuries, down 
to the age of Sesostris (1650, A. C), who united the separate 
principalities into one kingdom, regulated its policy with 
admirable skill, and distinguished himself equally by his 
foreign conquests, and by his domestic administration. 



SECTION H. 

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST GOVERN 

MENTS, AND ON THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES, 
OE THE EAR1Y AGES. 

§ 1. The earliest government is the patriarchal, which 
subsists in the rudest periods of society. 

This has an easy progress to the monarchical. 

The first monarchies must have been very weak, and their 
territory extremely limited. The idea of security precedes 
that of conquest. In forming our notions of the extent of 
the first monarchies, we are deceived by the word king, 
which, according to modern ideas, is connected with an ex- 
tent of territory, and a proportional power. The kings in 
scripture are no more than the chiefs of tribes. There were 
live kings in the vale of Sodom. Joshua defeated in his wars 
thirty-one kings, and Adonizedec threescore and ten. 



sect. ii. ANCIENT HISTORY, 13 

The regal office was in all probability at first elective. 
The transmission of the sceptre to the heir of the last mo- 
narch arises in time, from the experience of the mischiefs 
attending frequent elections, and the disorders occasioned 
hj ambitious men aspiring at that dignity. 

The first ideas of conquest must have proceeded from a 
people in the state of shepherds, who, necessarily changing 
their pastures, would probably make incursions on the ap- 
propriated territory of their neighbours. Such were the 
Arabian or Phoenician invaders, who, under the name of 
shepherd-kings, conquered Egypt. But kingdoms so found- 
ed could have little duration. Laws and good policy, essen~ 
tial to the stability of kingdoms, are the fruit of intellectual 
refinement, and arise only in a state of society considerably 
advanced in civilization. 

The progress from barbarism to civilization is slow, be- 
cause every step in the progress is the result of necessity, af- 
ter the experience of an error, or the strong feeling of a want, 

§ 2. Origin of laics. Certain political writers have sup- 
posed that, in the infancy of society, penal laws must have 
been extremely mild. We presume the contrary to have 
been rather the case, as the more barbarous the people, the 
stronger must be the bonds to restrain them : and history 
confirms the supposition in the ancient laws of the Jews, 
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. 

Among the earliest laws of all states are those regarding 
marriage ; for the institution of marriage is coeval with the 
formation of society. The first sovereigns of all states are 
said to have instituted marriage ; and the earliest laws pro- 
vided encouragements to matrimony. 

Among the ancient nations the husband purchased his 
wife by money, or personal services. Among the Assyrians 
the marriageable women were put up to auction, and the 
price obtained for the more beautiful was assigned as a 
dowry to the more homely. 

The laws of succession are next in order to those of mar- 
riage. The father had the absolute power in the division 



±% ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

of his estate. But primogeniture was understood to eonfer 
certain rights. 

Laws arise necessarily and imperceptibly from the condi- 
tion of society ; and each particular law may be traced from 
the state of manners, or the political emergency which gave 
it birth. Hence we perceive the intimate connection be- 
tween history and jurisprudence, and the light which they 
must necessarily throw upon each other. The laws of a 
country are best interpreted from its history ; and its uncer- 
tain history is best elucidated by its ancient laws. 

§ 3. Earliest Methods of authenticating Contracts. Before 
the invention of writing, contracts, testaments, sales, mar- 
riages, and the like, were transacted in public. The Jewish 
and the Grecian histories furnish examples. Some bar- 
barous nations authenticate their bargains by exchanging 
symbols or tallies. — The Peruvians accomplished most of the 
purposes of writing by knotted cords of various colours, ter- 
med quipos. The Mexicans communicated intelligence to a 
distance by painting. Other nations used an abridged mode 
of painting, or hieroglyphics. Before writing, the Egyptians 
used hieroglyphics for transmitting and recording know- 
ledge : after writing, they employed it for veiling or con- 
cealing knowledge from the vulgar. 

§ 4. Methods for recording Historical Facts, and publish- 
ing Laws* Poetry and song were the first vehicles of his- 
tory, and the earliest mode of promulgating laws. The songs 
of the bards record a great deal of ancient history ; and the 
laws of many of the ancient nations were composed in verse. 

Stones, rude and sculptured, tumuli, and mounds of earth, 
are the monuments of history among a barbarous people ; 
and columns, triumphal arches, coins, and medals, among a 
more refined. These likewise illustrate the progress of 
manners and of the arts. 

§ 5. Religious Institutions. Among the earliest institu- 
tions of all nations, are those which regard religious worship. 
The sentiment of religion is deeply rooted in the human mind. 



sect. ii. ANCIENT HISTORY. lg 

An uninstructed savage will infer tlie existence of a God, 
and his attributes, from the general order and mechanism of 
nature; and even the temporary irregularities of nature lead 
t'o religious veneration of the unknown power which con- 
ducts it. 

Before conceiving the idea of a Being utterly impercepti- 
ble to his senses, a savage would naturally seek that Being in 
the most striking* objects of sense to which he owed his most 
apparent benefits. The sun, extending its beneficial in- 
fluence over all nature, was among the earliest objects of 
worship. The fire presented a symbol of the sun. The other 
celestial bodies naturally attracted their share of veneration. 

The symbolical mode of writing led to many peculiarities 
of the idolatrous worship of the ancient nations. Animals, 
symbolical of the attributes of deity, became gods them- 
selves. The same God, represented by different animals, 
was supposed to have changed himself into different forms. 
The gratitude and veneration for men whose lives had been 
eminently useful, joined to the belief of the soul's immor- 
tality, led to the apotheosis of heroes. Many excellent reflec- 
tions on idolatry and polytheism are found in the book called 
The Wisdom of Solomon. 

The priesthood was anciently exercised by the chief or 
monarch ; but as an empire became extensive, the monarch 
exercised this office by his delegates ; and hence an additional 
source of veneration for the priesthood. The priests were 
the framers and the administrators of the laws. 

§ 6. Arts and Sciences of the Ancient Nations. The use- 
ful arts are the offspring of necessity ; the sciences are the 
fruit of ease and leisure. The construction of huts, of wea- 
pons of war and of hunting, are the earliest arts. Agricul- 
ture is not practised till the tribe becomes stationary, and 
property is defined and secured. 

The sciences arise in a cultivated society, where indivi- 
duals enjoy that leisure which invites to study and specula- 
tion. The priests maintained in that condition by the mo- 
narch, were the earliest cultivators of science. The Egyptian 
science was confined to the priests. Astronomy, which is 



£Q ANCIENT HISTORY. part. p 

among the earliest of the sciences, owed its origin probably 
to superstition. Medicine was among the early sciences. 
All rude nations have a pharmaey of their own, equal in 
general to their wants. Luxury, creating new and more 
complex diseases, requires a profounder knowledge of medi- 
sine, and of the, animal economy. 



SECTION III. 

Or THE EGYPTIANS. 

1. A great portion of the knowledge and attainments of 
the ancient nations, and by consequence of those of the mo- 
derns, is to be traced to Egypt. The Egyptians instructed 
the Greeks ; the Greeks performed the same office to the 
Romans ; and the latter have transmitted much of that know- 
ledge to the world, of which Ave are in possession at this 
day. For the supposed origin of Egyptian science, see Fart 
II, Sect. 50 . 

2. The antiquity of this empire, though we give no credit 
to the chronicles of Manetho, must be allowed to be very 
great. The Mosaic writings represent Egypt, about 430 
years after the flood, as a flourishing and well-regulated 
kingdom. The nature of the country itself affords a pre- 
sumption of the great antiquity of the empire, and its early 
civilization. From the fertilizing effects of the waters of 
the Nile it is probable that agriculture would be more 
early practised there, than in regions less favoured by na- 
ture. The periodical inundations of the Nile are owing 
to the heavy rains which fall on the mountains of Ethiopia, 
at a certain season of the year. 

3. The government of Egypt was a hereditary monarchy. 
The powers of the monarch were limited by constitutional 
laws ; yet in many respects his authority was extremely des- 
potical. The functions of the sovereign were partly civil 
and partly religious. — The king had the chief regulation of 
all that regarded the worship of the gods ; and the priests,, 
considered as his deputies, filled all the offices of state. They 



sect.0. ANCIENT HISTORY. 1? 

were both the legislators and the civil judges ; t!rey imposed 
and levied the taxes, and regulated weights and measures. 
The great national tribunal was composed of thirty judges, 
chosen from the three principal departments of the empire. 
The administration of justice was defrayed by the sovereign, 
and, as parties were their own advocates, was no burden upon 
the people. The penal laws of Egypt were uncommonly 
severe. Female chastity was most rigidly protected. Fu- 
neral rites were not conferred till after a scrutiny into the life 
of the deceased, and by a judicial decree approving his cha- 
racter. The characters even of the sovereigns were subjected 
to this inquiry. 

There was an extraordinary regulation in Egypt regarding 
the borrowing of money. The borrower gave in pledge the 
body of his father, and was deprived of funeral rites if he 
failed to redeem it. 

Population was encouraged bylaw; and every man was 
bound to maintain and educate the children born to him of 
his slaves. 

4. The manners of the Egyptians were very early formed. 
They had a singular attachment to ancient usages ; a dislike 
to innovation ; a jealousy and abhorrence of strangers. 

5. They preceded most of the ancient nations in the know- 
ledge of the useful arts, and in the cultivation of the sciences. 
Architecture was early brought to great perfection. Their 
buildings, the pyramids, obelisks, &c, have, from the mildr 
ness of the climate, suffered little injury from time. Pliny 
describes the contrivance for transporting the obelisks. The 
whole country abounds with the remains of ancient magni- 
ficence. Thebes, in Upper Egypt, was one of the most 
splendid cities in the world. 

The pyramids are supposed to have been erected about 900 
years A. C. They were probably the sepulchral monuments 
of the sovereigns. The Egyptians believed that death did 
not separate the soul from the body; and hence their ex- 
treme care to preserve the body entire, by embalming, con- 
cealing it in caves and catacombs, and guarding it by such 
stupendous structures. Mr. Bruce supposes the pyramids 

c 



18 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i 

to be rocks hewn into a pyramidal form, and encrusted, 
where necessary, with mason-work. 

The remains of art in Egypt, though venerable for theit^ 
great antiquity, are extremely deficient in beauty and ele- 
gance. The Egyptians were ignorant of the construction of 
an arch. The remainsof painting and sculpture evince but 
a slender proficiency in those arts. 

6. The Egyptians possessed considerable knowledge of 
geometry, mechanics, and astronomy. They had divided 
the zodiac into twelve signs ; they calculated eclipses ; and 
seem to have had an idea of the motion of the earth. 

7. The morality taught by the priests was pure and refin- 
ed j but it had little influence on the manners of the people. 

8. So likewise the theology and secret doctrines of the 
priests were rational and sublime ; but the worship of the 
people was debased by the most absurd and contemptible 
superstition. 

9. Notwithstanding the early civilization and the great at- 
tainments of this people, their national character was ex- 
tremely low and despicable among the contemporary nations 
of antiquity. The reason of this is, they were a people who 
chose to sequester themselves from the rest of mankind j they 
were not known to other nations by their conquests ; they 
had little connection with them by commerce ; and they had 
an antipathy to the persons and manner* of strangers. 

10. There were likewise many circumstances of their 
own manners which tended to degrade them in the opinion 
of other nations. All professions were hereditary in Egypt, 
and the rank of each was scrupulously settled ; the objects of 
the religious worship were different in different parts of the 
kingdom, a fertile source of division and controversy ; their 
particular superstitions were of the most absurd and debas- 
ing nature ; and the manners of the people were extremely 
Iqose and profligate. 



sect. 4, ANCIENT HISTORY, 49 

SECTION IV. 

OF THE PHOENICIANS-. 

1. Tlie Phoenicians were among the most early civilized 
nations of the east. We are indebted to them for the inven- 
tion of writing, and for the first attempts at commercial 
navigation. The fragments of Sanehoniatho are the most an- 
cient monuments of writing after the books of Moses. San- 
ehoniatho was contemporary with Joshua, about 1440 A. C. 
and 500 before the cities of Attica were united by Theseus. 

2. The Phoenicians (the Canaanites of scripture), were a 
commercial people in the days of Abraham. In the time of 
the Hebrew judges they had begun to colonize. Their first 
settlements were Cyprus and Rhodes; thence they passed 
into Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain; and formed es- 
tablishments likewise on the Ave stern coast of Africa. The 
Sidonians carried on an extensive commerce at the time of 
the Trojan war. 

SECTION V. 

THE HISTORY OF GREECE. 

1. Greece being indebted for the first rudiments of civiliza- 
tion to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, its history is properly 
introduced by an account of those more ancient nations. 

2. The early antiquities of this country are disguised by 
fable ; but from the time when it becomes important, it has 
been treated of by eminent writers. 

3. The ancient inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgi, Hiantes 
Leleges, were extremely barbarous ; but a dawning of civiliza- 
tion arose under the Titans, a Phoenician or Egyptian colony 
who settled in the country about the time of Abraham. 
The Titans gave the Greeks the first ideas of religion, and 
introduced the worship of their own gods, Saturn, Jupiter, 



20 ACCENT HISTORY. part t. 

Oepes, &c. Succeeding ages confounded those Titans them- 
selves with the gods, and hence sprung numberless fables. 

4. Inachus, the last of the Titans, founded the kingdom of 
Argos, 1856 A. C; and Egialtes, one of his sons, the king- 
dom of Sicyon. 

5. In the following century happened the deluge of Ogyges, 
1796 A. C. Then followed a period of barbarism for above 
200 years. 

6. Cecrops, the leader of another colony from Egypt, 
landed in Attica 1582 A. C. ; and, connecting himself with 
the last king, succeeded, on his death, to the sovereignty. 
He built twelve cities, and was eminent both as a lawgiver 
and politician. 

7. The Grecian history derives some authenticity at this 
period from the Chronicle of Paros, preserved among the 
Arundelian marbles at Oxford. The authority of this 
chronicle has been questioned of late, and many arguments 
adduced presumptive of its being a forgery ; but, on a review 
of the whole controversy, we judge the arguments for its 
authenticity to preponderate. It fixes the dates of the most 
remarkable events in the history of Greece, from the time of 
Cecrops down to the age of Alexander the Great. 

8. Cranau3 succeeded Cecrops, in whose time happened 
two remarkable events recorded in the Chronicle of Paros ^ 
the judgment of the areopagus between Mars and Neptune, 
two princes of Thessaly ; and the deluge of Deucalion. The 
court of areopagus, at Athens, was instituted by Cecrops. 
The number of its judges varied at different periods, from 
nine to fifty-one. The deluge of Deucalion, magnified and dis- 
guised by the poets, was probably only a partial inundation. 

9. Amphictyon, the contemporary of Cranaus, if the foun- 
der of the amphictyonic council, must have possessed exten- 
sive views of policy. This council, from a league of twelve 
cities, became a representative assembly of the states of 
Greece, and had the most admirable political effects in unit- 
ing the nation, and giving it a common interest. 

10. Cadmus, about 1519 A. C, introduced alphabetic wri- 
ting into Greece, from Phoenicia. The alphabet then had only 



sect. 6. ANCIENT HISTORY. 2l 

sixteen letters ; and the mode of writing (termed hoiistro- 
pliedon) was alternately from left to right and right to left. 
From this period the Greeks made rapid advances in civili- 
zation. 



SECTION VI. 

REFLECTIONS OK THE FIRST AND RUDEST PERIODS OF THE 
GRECIAN HISTORY. 

1. The country of Greece presents a large, irregular penin- 
sula, intersected by many chains of mountains, separating 
its different districts, and opposing natural impediments to 
general intercourse, and therefore to rapid civilization. The 
extreme barbarism of the Pelasgi, who are said to have been 
cannibals, and ignorant of the use of fire, has its parallel in 
modern barbarous nations. Many circumstances retarded 
the progress of the Greeks to refinement. The introduction 
of a national religion was best fitted to remove those obsta- 
cles. Receiving this new system of theology from strangers, 
and entertaining at first very confused ideas of it, they would 
naturally blend its doctrines and worship with the notions of 
religion which they formerly possessed ; and hence we observe 
only partial coincidences of the Grecian with the Egyptian 
and Phoenician mythologies. It has been a vain and pre- 
posterous labour of modern mythological writers, to attempt 
to trace all the fables of antiquity, and the various systems of 
pagan theology, up to one common source. The absurdity 
of this is best shown, by comparing the different and most 
contradictory solutions of the same fable given by different 
mythologists ; as, for example, lord Bacon and the abbe 
Banier. Some authors, with much indiscretion, have attempt- 
ed fo deduce all the Pagan mythologies from the holy scrip- 
tures. Such researches are not only unprofitable, but posi- 
tively mischievous. 

2. Superstition, in the early periods, was a predominant 
characteristic of the Greeks. To this age, and to this charac- 



£2 ANCIENT HISTORY. fart i. 

ter of the people, we refer the origin of the Grecian oracles, 
and the institution of the public games in honour of the gods. 

The desire of penetrating into futurity, and the supersti- 
tion common to rude nations, gave rise to the oracles of 
Delphi, Dodona, &c. 

The resort of strangers to these oracles on particular oc- 
casions led to the celebration of a festival, and to public 
games. 

The four solemn games of the Greeks, particularly termed 
tepoi, were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the 
Isthmian. They consisted principally in contests of skill in 
all the athletic exercises; and the prizes were chiefly hono- 
rary marks of distinction. Archbishop Potter, in his Jlrchce- 
logia Greece^ fully details their particular nature. These 
games had excellent political effects, in promoting national 
union, in diffusing the love of glory, and training the youth 
to martial exercises. They cherished at once a heroical and 
a superstitious spirit, which led to the formation of extra- 
ordinary and hazardous enterprises. 



SECTION VII. 

EARLY PERIOD OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY. THE ARGONAUTIC 
EXPEDITION. WARS OF THEBES AND OF TROY. 

1. The history of Greece, for a period of 300 years pre- 
ceding the Trojan war, is intermixed with fabler ; but con- 
tains, at the same time, many facts entitled to credit, as au- 
thentic. Erectheus, or Ericthonius, either a Greek who 
had visited Egypt, or the leader of a new Egyptian colony, 
cultivated the plains of Eleusis, and instituted the Eleusinian 
mysteries, in imitation of the Egyptian games of Isis. These 
mysteries Avere of a religious and moral nature, conveying 
the dotrines of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, 
and a future state of reward and punishment. Cicero speaks 
of them with high encomium. But the ceremonies connected 
with them were childish and ridiculous. 



sect. 7 . ANCIENT HISTORY, £& 

2. Theseus laid the foundation of the grandeur of Attica, 
by uniting its twelve cities, and giving* them a common con- 
stitution, 1257 A. C. 

3. The first great enterprize of the Greeks was the 
Argonautie expedition, 1263 A. C. (Usher), and 937, A. C. 
(sir I. Newton), This is supposed to have been both a mili- 
tary and a mercantile adventure, and was singularly bold for 
the times in which it was undertaken. The object was, to 
open the commerce of the Euxine sea, and to secure some 
establishments on its coasts. The astronomer Chiron direct- 
ed tke plan of the voyage, and formed, for the use of the 
mariners, a scheme of the constellations, fixing with accuracy 
the solstitial and equinoctial points. Sir Isaac Newton has 
founded his emendation of the ancient chronology on a calcu- 
lation of the regular procession of the equinoxes from this 
period to the present, as well as on an estimate of the me- 
dium length of human generations. 

4. The state of the military art in Greece at this time may 
be estimated from an account of the sieges of Thebes and 
Troy. 

In these enterprizes the arts of attack and defence were 
very rude and imperfect. The siege was entirely of the na- 
ture of blockade, and therefore necessarily of long duration. 
A dispute for the divided sovereignty of Thebes between the 
brothers Eteoeles and Polynices, gave rise to the war, which 
was terminated by single combat, in which both were killed. 

5. The sons of the commanders slain in this war renewed 
the quarrel of their fathers, and occasioned the war of the 
Epigonoi, a subject on which Homer is said to have written 
a poem, now lost, equal to the Jliad and Odyssey. 

6. The detail of the Avar of Troy rests chiefly on the 
authority of Homer, and ought not, in spite of modern scepti- 
cism, to be refused, in its principal facts, the credit of a true 
history. After a blockade of ten years Troy was taken, 
either by storm or surprise, 118i A. C, and being set on fire 
in the njght, was burnt to the ground; not a vestige of its 
ruins existing at the present day. The empire fell from that 
moment. The Greeks settled a colony near the spot, and 
the rest of the kingdom was occupied by the Lydians. 



34 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 



7. At this time military expeditions were carried on only 
io the spring and summer. In a tedious siege the winter 
was a season of armistice. The science of military tactics 
was then utterly unknown, every battle being a multitude of 
single combats. The soldier had no pay but his share of 
the booty, divided by the chiefs. The weapons of war were 
the sword, the bow, the javelin, the club, the hatchet, and 
the sling. A helmet of brass, an enormous shield, a cuirass, 
and buskins, were the weapons of defence. 



SECTION VIII. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIES, 

1. About eighty years after the taking of Troy began the 
War of the Heraclidse. Hercules, the spn of Amphitryon, 
sovereign of Mycense, was banished from his country with 
all his family, while the crown was possessed by a usurper. 
His descendants, after the period of a century, returned to 
Peloponnesus, and subduing all their enemies, took posses- 
sion of the states of Mycense, Argos, and Lacedsemon. 

2. A long period of civil war and bloodshed succeeded, 
and Greece, divided among a number of petty tyrants, suf- 
fered equally the miseries of oppression and anarchy. 

Codrus, king of Athens, showed a singular example of 
patriotism, in devoting himself to death for his country ; yet 
the Athenians, weary of monarchy, determined to make the 
experiment of a popular constitution. Medon, the son of 
Codrus, was elected chief magistrate, with the title of archon. 
This is the commencement of the Athenian republic, about 
1068 A. C. 

3. At this time the Greeks began to colonize. The op- 
pression which they suffered at home forced many of them to 
abandon their country, and seek refuge in other lands. A 
large body of iEolians from Peloponnesus founded twelve 
cities in the Lesser Asia, of which Smyrna was the most con- 
siderable. A troop of Ionian exiles built Ephesus, Colophon, 
Clazomene, and other towns; giving to their new settlements 



sect. 9, ANCIENT HISTORY. 25 

the name of their native country, Ionia. The Dorians sent 
off colonies to Italy and Sicily, founding, in the former, Ta- 
rentum and Locri, and in the latter, Syracuse and Agrigentum. 
The mother country considered its eolonies as emancipated 
children. These speedily attained to eminence and splendour, 
rivalling and surpassing their parent states : and the example 
of their prosperity, which was attributed to the freedom of 
their governments, incited the states of Greece, oppressed by 
a number of petty despots, to put an end to the regal govern- 
ment, and to try the experiment of a popular constitution. 
Athens and Thebes gave the first examples, which were soon 
followed by all the rest. 

4. These infant republics demanded new laws ; and it was 
necessary that some enlightened citizen should arise, who had 
discernment to perceive what system of legislation was most 
adapted to the character of his native state; who had abilities 
to compile such a system, and sufficient authority with his 
countrymen to recommend and enforce it. Such men were 
the Spartan Lycurgus and the Athenian Solon. 



SECTION IX. 

THE REPUBLIC OF SPARTA. 

1. The origin of this political system has given rise to much 
Ingenious disquisition among the moderns, and affords a re- 
markable instance of the passion for systematizing. It is a 
prevailing propensity with modern philosophers to reduce 
every thing to general principles. Man, say they, is always 
the same animal, and, when placed in similar situations, will 
always exhibit similar appearances. His manners, his im- 
provements, the government and laws under which he lives, 
arise necessarily from the situation in which we find him ; 
and all is the result of a few general laws of nature, which 
operate universally on the human species. But in the ardour 
of this passion for generalizing, these philosophers often for- 
get, that it is the knowledge of facts which can alone lead 

Tl 



25 ANCIENT HISTORY, part u 

to the discovery of general laws : a knowledge not limited to 
the history of a single age or nation, but extended to that of 
the whole species in every age and climate. Antecedently to 
such knowledge, all historical system is mere romance. 

2. Of this nature is a late theory of the constitution of Spar- 
ta, first started by Mr. Browne, in his Essay on Civil Liberty ; 
and from him adopted by later writers. It thus accounts for 
the origin of the Spartan constitution. " The army of the 
Heraclidse, when they came to recover the dominion of their 
ancestors, was composed of Dorians from Thessaly, the most 
barbarous of all the Greek tribes. The Achseans, the ancient 
inhabitants of Laeonia, were compelled to seek new habita- 
tions, while the barbarians of Thessaly took possession of 
their country. Of all the nations which are the subject of 
historical record, this people bore the nearest resemblance to 
the rude Americans, An American tribe, where a chief pre- 
sides, where the council of the aged deliberate, and the assem- 
bly of the people give their voice, is on the eve of such a po- 
litical establishment as the Spartan constitution." — Logan's 
Philosophy of History, &e. The Dorians or Thessalians set- 
tled in Laeedsemon manifested, it is said, the same manners 
with all other nations in a barbarous state. Lycurgus did no 
more than arrest them in that state, by forming their usages 
into laws. He checked them at once in the first stage of their 
improvement. " He put forth a bold hand to that spring which 
is in society, and stopt its motion." 

3. This theory, however ingenious, is confuted by facts. 
All ancient authors agree, that Lycurgus operated a total 
change on the Spartan manners, and on the constitution of his 
country ; while the moderns have discovered that he made 
no change on either. The most striking features of the man- 
ners and constitution of Sparta have not the smallest resem- 
blance to those of any rude nations, with which we are ac- 
quainted. The communion of slaves and of many other species 
of property, the right of the state in the children of all the 
citizens, their common education, the public tables, the equal 
division of lands, the oath of government between the kings 
and people, have no parallel in the history of any barbarous 
nation. 



sect. 9. ANCIENT HISTORY. Q? 

i. The real history of Sparta and its constitution is there- 
fore not to be found in modern theory, hut in the writings of 
the Greek historians, and these are our sole authorities wor- 
thy of credit. 

After the return of the Heraclidse Sparta was divided be- 
tween the two sons of Aristodeimis, Eurysthenes and Procles, 
who jointly reigned j and this double monarchy, transmitted, 
to the descendants of each, continued in the separate branches 
for near 900 years. A radical principle of disunion, and con- 
sequent anarchy, caused the want of constitutional laws to be 
severely felt. Lycurgus, brother of Polydectes, one of the 
kings of Sparta, a man distinguished alike by his abilities and 
virtues, was invested, by the concurring voice of the sove- 
reigns and people, with the important duty of reforming and 
new-modelling the constitution of his country, 884 A. C. 

5. Lycurgus instituted a senate, elective, of twenty-eight 
members ; whose office was to preserve a just balance be- 
tween the power of the kings and that of the people. Nothing 
could come before the assembly of the people, which had not 
received the previous consent of the senate ; and, on the other 
hand, no judgment of the senate was effectual without the 
sanction of the people. The kings presided in the senate ; 
they were the generals of the republic : but they could plan 
no enterprize without the consent of a council of the citi- 
zens. • 

6. Lycurgus bent his attention most particularly to the re- 
gulation of manners ; and one great principle pervaded his 
whole system : Luxury is the bane of society. 

He divided the territory of the republic into 39,000 equal 
portions, among the whole of its free citizens. 

He substituted iron money for gold and silver, prohibited 
the practice of commerce, abolished all useless arts, and al- 
lowed even those necessary to life to be practised only by the 
slaves. 

The whole citizens made their principal repast at the pub- 
lie tables. The meals were coarse and parsimonious ; the 
conversation was fitted to improve the youth in virtue, and 
to cultivate the patriotic spirit. 



g§ ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

The Spartan education rejected all embellishments of the 
understanding. It nourished only the severer virtues. It 
taught the duties of religion, obedience to the laws, respect 
for parents, reverence for old age, inflexible honour, undaunt- 
ed courage, contempt of danger and of death ; above all, the 
love of glory and of their country. 

7. But the general excellence of the institutions of Lycur- 
gus was impaired by many blemishes. The manners of the 
Lacedaemonian women were shamefully loose. They fre- 
quented the fcaths, and fought naked in the pahestra promis- 
cuously with the men. Theft was a part of Spartan educa- 
tion. The youth were taught to subdue the feelings ot hu- 
manity ; the slaves were treated with the most barbarous ri- 
gour, and often massacred for sport. The institutions of 
Lycurgus had no other end than to form a nation of soldiers. 

8. A faulty part of the constitution of Sparta was the office 
of the ephori; magistrates elected by the people, wliose pow- 
er, though in some respects subordinate, was in others para- 
mount to that of the kings and senate, 



SECTION X. 

THE HEFTJBXIC OE ATHENS. 

i. On the abolition of the regal office at Athens, the change 
of the constitution was more nominal than real. The archon- 
ship was, during three centuries, a perpetual and hereditary 
magistracy. In 754, A. C. this office became decennial. In 
648 the archons were annually elected, and were nine in num- 
ber, with equal authority. Under all these changes the state 
was convulsed, and the condition of the people miserable. 

2. Draco, elevated to the archonship 624 A. C, projected 
a reform in the constitution of his country, and thought to re- 
press disorders by the extreme severity of penal laws. But 
his talents were unequal to the task which he had undertaken. 

3. Solon, an illustrious Athenian, of the race of Codrus, at- 
tained the dignity of archon 594. A G., and was entrusted with 



S£ct. 10. ANCIENT HISTORY. 29 

the care of framing for his country a new form of government, 
and a new system of laws. He possessed extensive knowledge, 
but wanted that intrepidity of mind which is necessary to the 
character of a great statesman. His disposition was mild and 
temporizing. Without attempting to reform the manners of 
his countrymen, he accommodated his system to their pre- 
vailing habits and passions. 

4. The people claimed the sovereign power, and they receiv- 
ed it ; the rich demanded offices and dignities : the system of 
Solon accommodated them to the utmost of their wishes. He 
divided the citizens into four classes, according to the measure 
of their wealth. To the first three, the richer citizens, be- 
longed all the offices of the commonwealth. The fourth, the 
poorer class, more numerous than ail the other three, had an 
equal right of suffrage with them in the public assembly, 
where all laws were framed, and measures of state decreed. 
Consequently the weight of the latter decided every ques 
tion. 

5. To regulate in some degree the proceedings of those as- 
semblies, and balance the weight of the popular interest, So- 
lon instituted a senate of 400 members (afterward enlarged 
to 500 and 600), with whom it was necessary that every mea- 
sure should originate, before it became the subject of discus- 
sion in the assembly of the people. 

6. To the court of areopagus he committed the guardian- 
ship of the laws, and the power of enforcing them ; with the 
supreme administration of justice. To this tribunal belonged 
likewise the custody of the treasures of the state, the care of 
religion, and a tutorial power over all the youth of the re- 
public. The number of its judges was various at different pe- 
riods, and the most immaculate purity of character was es- 
sential to that high office. 

7. The authority of the senate and areopagus imposed some 
check on the popular assemblies ; but as these possessed the 
ultimate right of decision, it was always in the power of am- 
bitious demagogues to sway them to the worst of purposes. 
Continual factions divided the people, and corruption pervad- 
ed every department of the state. The public measures, the 
result of the interested schemes of individuals, were often as 



30 ANCIENT HISTORY. PAar i. 

absurd as they were profligate. Athens often saw her best 
patriots, the wisest and most virtuous of her citizens, shame- 
fully sacrificed to the most depraved and most abandoned. 

8. The particular laws of the Athenian state are more de- 
serving' of encomium than its form of government. The laws 
relating to debtors were mild and equitable, and so were those 
which regulated the treatment of slaves. But the vassalage 
of women, or their absolute subjection to the coiftroul of their 
nearest relations, approached too near to a state of servitude. 
The proposer of a law, which was found on experience impo- 
litic, was liable to punishment ; an enactment apparently ri- 
gorous, but probably necessary in a popular government. 

9. One most iniquitous and absurd peculiarity of the Athe- 
nian, and some other governments of Greece, was the practice 
of the ostracism, a ballot of all the citizens, in which each 
wrote down the name of the person in his opinion most obnoxi- 
ous to censure; and he who was thus marked out by the great- 
est number of voices, though uninipeached of any crime, was 
banished from his country for ten years. This barbarous 
and disgraceful institution, ever capable of the grossest abuse, 
and generally subservient to the worst of purposes, has stain- 
ed the character of Athens with many flagrant instances of 
public ingratitude. 

10. The manners of the Athenians formed the most strik- 
ing contrast to those of the Lacedeemonians. At Athens the 
arts were in the highest esteem. The Lacedsemonians des- 
pised the arts, and all who cultivated them. At Athens peace 
was the natural state of the republic, and the refined enjoy- 
ment of life the aim of all its subjects. Sparta was entirely 
a military establishment ; and her subjects, when unengaged 
in war, were totally unoccupied. Luxury was the character 
of the Athenian, as frugality of the Spartan. They were 
equally jealous of their liberty, and equally brave in war. 
The courage of the Spartan sprang from constitutional fero- 
city, that of the Athenian from the principle of honour. 

11. The Spartan government had acquired solidity, while 
all the rest of Greece was torn by domestic dissensions. 
Athens, a prey to faction and civil disorder, surrenderd her 
liberties to Pisistratus, 550 A. C. ; who, after various turns 



sect. 11. ANCIENT HISTORY 31 

of fortune, established himself firmly in the sovereignty, ex- 
ercised a splendid and munificent dominion, completely gained 
the affections of the people, and transmitted a peaceable crown 
to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. 

12. Hermodias and Aristogiton undertook to restore the 
democracy ; and succeeded in the attempt. Hipparchus was 
put to death ; Hippias was dethroned, and solicited a foreign 
aid to replace him in the sovereignty. Darius, the son of 
Hystaspes, meditated at this time the conquest of Greece. 
Hippias took advantage of the views of an enemy against his 
native country, and Greece was now involved in a war with 
Persia. 



SECTION XL 

OF THE STATE OE THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, AND ITS HIS- 
TORY DOWN TO THE WAR WITH GREECE. 

1. The first empire of the Assyrians ended under Sardanapa- 
lus, and three monarchies arose from its ruins, Nineveh, Baby- 
lon, and the kingdom of the Medes. ( 

2. The history of Babylon and of Nineveh is very imperfect- 
ly known. The Medes, hitherto independent tribes, were 
united under a monarchy by Dejoees. His son Phraortes 
conquered Persia, but was himself vanquished by Nabucho- 
donosor I, king of Assyria, and put to death. Nabuchodono- 
sor II led the Jews into captivity, took Jerusalem and Tyre, 
and subdued Egypt. 

3. The history of Cyrus is involved in great uncertainty ; 
nor is it possible to reconcile or apply to one man the different 
accounts given of him by Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. 
Succeeding his father Cambyses in the throne of Persia, and 
his uncle Cyaxares in the sovereignty of the Medes, he united 
these empires, vanquished the Babylonians and Lydians, sub- 
jected the greater part of the Lesser Asia, and made himself 

master of Syria and Arabia. 

4. He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, distinguished 
only as a tyrant and a madman. 



3^ ANCIENT HISTORY. jpAut I- 

B. After the death of Carnbyses, Darius, the son of Hys- 
laspes, a prince of great enterprize and ambition, was eleeted 
sovereign of Persia. Unfortunate in a rash expedition against 
the Scythians, he projected and achieved the conquest of 
India. Inflated with success, he now meditated an invasion of 
Greece, and cordially entered into the views of Hippias, who 
sought, hj his means, to regain the sovereignty of Athens. 

Government, Manners, Laws, &c. of the Jlncient Persians. 

6. The government of Persia was an absolute monarchy, 
the will of the sovereign being subject to no controul, and his 
person revered as sacred : yet the education which the Persian 
monarehs bestowed on their children Avas calculated to inspire 
every valuable quality of a sovereign. 

The ancient Persians in general bestowed the utmost at- 
tention on the education of youth. Children at the age of five 
were committed to the care of the magi, for the improvement 
of their mind and morals. They were trained at the same time 
to every manly exercise. The sacred books of the Zendavesta 
promised to every worthy parent the imputed merit and 
reward of all the good actions of his children. 

7. Luxurious as they were in later timse, the early Persians 
were distinguished for their temperance, bravery, and vir- 
tuous simplicity of manners. They were all trained to th* 
use of arms, and displayed great intrepidity in war. The cus- 
tom of the women following their armies to the field, 
erroneously attributed to effeminacy, was a remnant of bar- 
barous manners. 

8. The kingdom of Persia was divided into several pro- 
vinces, each under a governor or satrap, who was accounta- 
ble to the sovereign for the whole of his conduct. The prince, 
at stated times, visited his provinces in person, correcting all 
abuses, easing the burdens of the oppressed, and encouraging 
agriculture and the practice of the useful arts. The laws of 
Persia were mild and equitable, and the utmost purity was 
observed in the administration of justice. 

9. The religion of the ancient Persians is of great anti- 
quity. It is conjectured that there were two Zoroasters ; the 
first, the founder of this ancient religion, and of whom are 






sect. 11. ANCIENT HISTORy. S3 

recorded miracles and prophecies ; the second, a reformer of 
that religion, contemporary with Darius the son of Hystas- 
pes. The Zendavesta, or sacred book, compiled by the for- 
mer, was improved and purified by the latter. It has been 
lately translated into French hy M. Anquetil, and appears to 
contain, amidst a mass of absurdity, some sublime truths, and 
excellent precepts of morality. The theology of the Zenda- 
vesta is founded on the doctrine of two opposite principles, a 
good and an evil, Ormusd and Ahriman, eternal beings, who 
divide between them the government of the universe, and 
whose warfare must endure till the end of 12000 years, when 
the good principle will finally prevail over the evil. A se- 
paration of the votaries' of each will ensue: the just will be 
admitted to the immediate enjoyment of Paradise; the wick- 
ed, after a limited purification by fire, will be ultimately al- 
lowed to partake in the blessings of eternity. Ormusd is to 
be adored through the medium of his greatest works, the sun, 
moon, and stars. The fire, the symbol of the sun, the air, 
the earth, the water, have their subordinate worship. 

The morality of the Zendavesta is best known from its 
abridgment, the Sadder? compiled about three centuries ago 
by the modern Gucbres. It inculcates a chastened species 
of epicurism; allowing a free indulgence of the passions, 
while consistent with the welfare of society. It prohibits 
equally intemperance and ascetic mortification. It recom- 
mends, as precepts of religion, the cultivation of the earth, 
the planting of fruit-trees, the destruction of noxious animals, 
the bringing of water to a barren land. 

10, Such were the ancient Persians. But their character 
had undergone a great change before the time of the war 
with Greece. At that time they were a degenerate and cor- 
rupted people. Athens had recently thrown off the yoke of 
the Pisistratidai, and highly valued her new liberty. Sparta, 
in the ardour of patriotism, forgot all jealousy of her rival 
state, and cordially united in the defenee of their common 
country. In this contest the Persians had no other advan- 
tage than that of numbers, an unequal match for superior 
heroism and military skill. 

E 



g£ ANCIENT HISTORY. part z. 

SECTION XIL 

THE WAR BETWEEN GREECE AN© PERSIA. 

1. The ambition of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, heighten- 
ed by the passion of revenge, gave rise to his project for the 
invasion of Greece. The Athenians had aided the people of 
Ionia in an attempt to throw ofF the yoke of Persia, and had 
burnt and ravaged Sardis, the capital of Lydia. Darius 
speedily reduced the loniaus to submission, and then turned 
his arms against the Greeks, their allies ; the exile Hippias 
eagerly prompting the expedition. 

%. After an insolent demand of submission, which the 
Greeks scornfully refused, Darius began a hostile attack 
both by sea and land. The first Persian fleet was wrecked 
in doubling the promontory of Athos ; a second of 600 sail, 
ravaged the Grecian islands ; while an immense army land- 
ing in Eubsea, poured down with impetuosity on Attica, 
The Athenians met them on the plain of Marathon, and, com- 
manded by Miltiades, defeated them with prodigious slaugh- 
ter, 490 A. C. The loss of the Persians in this battle was 
6300 men, that of the Athenians 190. 

3. The merit of Miltiades, signally displayed in this great 
ibattle, was repaid by his country with the most shocking 
ingratitude. He was accused of treason for an unsuccessful 
attack on the Isle of Paros ; and his sentence of death was 
commuted into a fine of fifty talents ; which being unable to 
pay he was thrown into prison, and there died of his wounds. 

4. The glory of ungrateful Athens was yet nobly sustained 
in the Persian war by Themistocles and Aristides, Darius dy- 
ing was succeeded by his son Xerxes, the heir of his father's 
ambition, but not of his abilities. He armed, as it is said, five 
millions of men, for the conquest of Greece ; 1200 ships of 
war, and 3000 ships of burden. Landing in Thessaly he pro- 
ceeded, by rapid marches, to Thermopylae, a narrow defile on 
the Sinus Maliacus. The Athenians and Spartans, aided 
only by the Thespians, Plateeans, and Eginetes, determined 



sect. 12. ANCIENT HISTORY. S'6 

to withstand the invader. Leonidas, king of Sparta, was 
chosen to defend this important pass with 6000 men. Xerxes, 
after a weak attempt to corrupt him, imperiously summoned 
him to lay down his arms. Let him come, said Leonidas, and 
take them. For two days the Persians in vain strove to force 
their way, and were repeatedly repulsed with great slaughter. 
An unguarded track being at length discovered, the defence 
of the pass became a fruitless attempt on the part of the 
Greeks. Leonidas, foreseeing certain destruction, command- 
ed all to retire but 300 of his countrymen. His motive was to 
give the Persians a just idea of the spirit of that foe whom 
they had to encounter. He, with his brave Spartans, were all 
cut off to a man, 480 A. C. A monument, erected on the spot, 
bore this noble inscription, written by Simonides : O stranger I 
tell it at Lacedozmon, that we died here in obedience to her 
laws. 

5. The Persians poured down upon Attica. The inhabit- 
ants of Athens conveyed their women and children to the 
islands for security, and then betook themselves to their fleet, 
abandoning the city, which the Persians pillaged and burnt. 
The fleet of the Greeks, consisting of 3§0 sail, was attacked 
in the straits of Salamis by that of the Persians, amounting 
to 1200 ships. From an eminence on the coast Xerxes be- 
held the total discomfiture of his fleet. He then fled with 
precipitation across the Hellespont. A second overthrow 
awaited his army by land; for Mardonius, at the head of 
300000 Persians, was totally defeated at Platsea by the com- 
bined army of the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, 479 A.C* 
On the same day the Greeks engaged and destroyed the 
remains of the Persian fleet at Mycale. From that day the 
ambitious schemes of Xerxes were at an end ; and his in- 
glorious life was soon after terminated by assassination. He 
was succeeded in the throne of Persia by his son Artaxerxes 
Longimanus, *64< A. C. 

6. At this time the national character of the Greeks was 
at its highest elevation. The common danger had annihila- 
ted all partial jealousies between the states, and given them 
union as a nation. But with the cessation of danger those 
jealousies recommenced. Sparta meanly opposed the rebuild- 



35 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i- 

ing of deserted Atliens ; and Athens, rising again into splen- 
dour, saw with pleasure the depopulation of Sparta by an 
earthquake, and hesitated to give her aid, in that juncture of 
calamity, against a rebellion of her slaves. 

7. Cimon, the son of Miltiades, having expelled the Per- 
sians from Thrace, attacked aud destroyed their fleet on the 
coast of Pamphylia, and landing his troops, gained a signal 
victory over their army on the same day. Supplanted in the 
public favour by the arts of his rival Pericles, he suffered a 
temporary exile, to return only with higher popularity, and to 
signalize himself still more in the service of his ungrateful 
country. He attacked and totally destroyed the Persian 
fleet of 300 sail, and, landing in Cilieia, completed his triumph, 
by defeating 300000 Persians under Megafoyzes, 460 A. C. 
Artaxerxes now had the prudence to sue for peace, which was 
granted by the Greeks, on terms most honourable to the na- 
tion. They stipulated for the freedom of all the Grecian 
cities of Asia, and that the fleets of Persia should not ap- 
proach their coasts from the Euxine to the extreme boundary 
of Pamphylia. The last fifty years were the period of the 
highest glory of the Greeks ; and they owed their prosperity 
entirely to their union. The peace with Persia, dissolving 
that connexion, brought back the jealousies between the 
predominant states, the intestine disorders of each, and the 
national weakness. 

8. The martial and the patriotic spirit began visibly to 
decline in Athens. An acquaintance with Asia, and an im- 
portation of her wealth, introduced a relish for Asiatic man- 
ners and luxuries. With the Athenians, however, this luxu- 
rious spirit was under the guidance of taste and genius. It 
led to the cultivation of the finer arts ; and the age of Peri- 
cles, though the national glory was in its wane:, is the sera of 
the highest internal splendour and magnificence of Greece. 



^ect. 13. ANCIENT HISTORY. 37 

SECTION X11I. 

AGE OF PERICLES. 

1. Republics, equally with monarchies, are generally regu- 
lated by a single will : only, in the former there is a more 
frequent change of masters. Pericles ruled Athens with 
little less than arbitrary sway; and, at this time, Athens pre- 
tended to the command of Greece. She held the allied states 
in the most absolute subjection, and lavished their subsidies, 
bestowed for the national defence, in magnificent buildings, 
games, and festivals, for her own citizens. The tributary 
states loudly complained, but durst not call this domineering 
republic to account ; and the war of Peloponnesus, dividing 
the nation into two great parties, bound the less cities to the 
strictest subordination on the predominant powers. 

2. The state of Corinth had been included in the last treaty 
between Athens and Sparta. The Corinthians waging war 
with the people of Coreyra, an ancient colony of their own, 
both parties solicited the aid of Athens, which took part with 
the latter : a measure which the Corinthians complained of, 
not only as an infraction of the treaty with Sparta, but as a 
breach of a general rule of the national policy, that no foreign 
power should interfere in the disputes between a colony and 
its parent state. War was proclaimed on this ground between 
Athens and Lacedsemon, each supported by its respective 
allies. The detail of the war, which continued for twenty- 
eight years, with various and alternate success, is to be found 
in Thucydides. Pericles died before its termination ; a 
splendid ornament of his country, but a corrupter of its man- 
ners. Alcibiades ran a similar career, with equal talents, 
equal ambition, and still less purity of moral principle. In 
the interval of a truce with Sparta he inconsiderately pro- 
jected the conquest of Sicily ; and, failing in the attempt, was, 
on his return to Athens, condemned to death for treason. lie 
hesitated not to wreak his vengeance against his country, by 
selling his services, first to Sparta, and afterward to Persia. 
Finally, lie purchased his peace with his country, by betray- 



38 ANCIENT HISTORY. *art i. 

ing the power which protected him, and returned to Athens 
the idol of a populace as versatile as it was worthless. 

3. A fatal defeat of the Athenian fleet at iEgos Potamos, 
hy Lysander, reduced Athens to the last extremity ; and the 
Laeedsemonians blockaded the city by land and sea. The 
war was terminated by the absolute submission of the 
Athenians, who agreed to demolish their port, to limit their 
fleet to twelve ships, and to undertake no military enterprize 
for the future, but under command of the Lacedemonians, 
405 A. C. 

*. To the same Lysander, who terminated the Pelopon- 
nesian war so gloriously for Laced?emon, history ascribes the 
first great breach of the constitution of his country, by the 
Introduction of gold into that republic. After the reduction 
of Athens, Lysander abolished the popular government in 
that state, and substituted in its place thirty tyrants, whose 
power was absolute. The most eminent of the citizens fled 
from their country ; but a band of patriots, headed by Thrasy- 
bulus, attacked, vanquished, and expelled the usurpers, and 
©nee more re-established the democracy. 

5. One event, which happened at this time, reflected more 
disgrace on the Athenian name than their national humilia- 
tion : this was the persecution and death of Socrates, a philo- 
sopher, who was himself the pattern of every virtue which he 
taught. The sophists, whose futile logic he derided and ex- 
posed, represented him as an enemy to the religion of his 
country, because, without regard to the popular supersti- 
tions, he led the mind to the knowledge of a Supreme Being, 
the creator and ruler of the universe, and to the belief of a 
future state of retribution. He made his defence with the 
manly fortitude of conscious innocence; but in vain: his 
judges were his personal enemies, and he was condemned to 
die by poison, 397 A. C. (See Section XXIII, § 5.) 

6. On the death of Darius Nothus, his eldest son Artax- 
erxes Mnemo'n succeeded to the empire of Persia. His 
younger brother Cyrus formed the project of dethroning him 
and with the aid of 13000 Greeks engaged his army near Ba- 
bylon, but was defeated and slain; a just punishment of his cul- 
pable enterprise. The remainder of the Grecian army, to the 



sect. 14. ANCIENT HISTORY. 39 

amount of 10000, under the command of Xenophon, made a 
most amazing retreat, traversing a hostile country of 1600 
miles in extent, from Babylon to the banks of the Euxine. 

Xenophon has beautifully written the history of this expe- 
dition ; but has painted the character of Cyrus in too flatter- 
ing colours, and without the smallest censure of his criminal 
ambition. 

7 The Greek cities of Asia had taken part with Cyrus. 
Sparta was engaged to defend her countrymen, and conse- 
quently was involved in a war with Persia. Had Athens add- 
ed her strength, the Greeks might have once more defied 
the power of Asia; but jealousy kept the states divided, and 
even hostile to one another ; and the gold of Artaxerxes ex- 
cited a general league in Greece against Lacedsemon. Age- 
silaus, king of Sparta, sustained for a considerable time the 
honour of his country, and won some important battles in 
Asia; but others were lost in Greece ; and a naval defeat 
near Cnidos utterly destroyed the Lacedsemonian fleet. Fi- 
nally, to escape total destruction, the Spartans sued for 
peace, and obtained it by the sacrifice to Persia of all the 
Asiatic colonies, 387 A. C. Artaxerxes further demanded, 
and obtained for his allies the Athenians, the islands of Sey- 
res, Lemuos, and Imbros: a uisgracful treaty; a mortifying 
picture of the humiliation of the Greeks* 



SECTION XIY. 

THE REPUBLIC OF THEBES. 

1. While Athens and Sparta were thus visibly tending to 
decline, the Theban republic emerged from obscurity, and 
rose for a time to a degree of splendour eclipsing ail its eon 
temporary states. The republic was divided by faction, one 
party supporting its ancient democracy, and the other aim 
ing at the establishment of an oligarchy. The latter court- 
ed the aid of the Spartans, who embraced that occasion to 
take possession of the citadel. Four hundred of the exiled 
Theban s fled for protection to Athens. Among these was 



4,0 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

Pelopidas, who planned and accomplished the deliverance of 
his country. Disguising himself and twelve of his Mends as 
peasants, he entered Thebes in the evening, and joined a pa- 
triotic party of the citizens : they surprised the heads of the 
usurpation amid the tumult of a feast, and put them all to 
death. Epauiinondas, the friend of Pelopidas, shared with 
him in the glory of this enterprize ; and with the aid of 5000 
Athenians, attacking the Lacedaemonian garrison, drove 
them entirely out of the Theban territory. 

2. A war necessarily ensued between Thebes and Sparta, 
in which the former had the aid of Athens. This aid how- 
ever was but for a season. Thebes singly opposed the pow- 
er of Sparta, and the league of Greece ; but Epaminondas 
and Pelopidas were her generals. The latter, amidst a ca- 
reer of glory, perished in an expedition against the tyrant of 
Phersea. Epaminondas, triumphant at Leuctra and Manti- 
nea, fell in that last engagement; and with him expired the 
glory of his country, 363 A. C. Athens and Sparta were 
humbled at the battle of Mantinea. Thebes was victorious ; 
but she was undone by the death of Epaminondas. All par- 
ties were tired of the war ; and Artaxerxes, more powerful 
among those infatuated states than in his own dominions, 
dictated the terms of the treaty. It was stipulated that each 
power should retain what it possessed ; and that the less 
states, now free from the yoke of the greater, should remain 
so. 

SECTION XV. 

PHILIP OF MACEDON. 

1. Greece was now in the most abject situation. The spi- 
rit of patriotism appeared utterly extinct, and military glory 
at an end. Athens seemed to have lost all ambition ; the 
pleasures of luxury had entirely supplanted heroic virtue ; 
poets, musicians, sculptors, and comedians, were now the 
only great men of Attica. Sparta, no less changed from the 
simplicity of its ancient manners, and its power abridged by 
the new independency of the states of Peloponnesus, was in 



sect. 15, ANCIENT HISTORY. M 

no capacity to attempt a recovery of its former greatness. 
3n this situation Philip of Macedon formed the ambitious 
project of bringing the whole of Greece under his dominion. 
2. He had mounted the throne of Macedon by popular 
choice, in violation of the natural right of the nearer heirs 
to the crown ; and he secured his power hj the success of his 
arms against the Iliyrians, Pseonians, and Athenians, who 
espoused the interest of his competitors. Uniting to great 
military talents the most consummate artiiice and address, 
he had his pensionaries in all the states of Greece, who direct- 
ed to his advantage every public measure. The miserable 
policy of those states, embroiled in perpetual quarrels, co- 
operated with his designs. A sacrilegious attempt of the 
Phoeians to plunder the temple of Delphos excited the sacred 
war, in which almost all the republics took a part. Philip's 
aid being courted by the Thebans and Thessaiians, he began 
hostilities by invading Phoeis, the hey to the territory of 
Attica. iEschines, the orator, bribed to his interest, at- 
tempted to quiet the alarms of the Athenians, by ascribing to 
Philip- a design only of punishing sacrilege, and vindicating 
the cause of Apollo. Demosthenes, with true patriotism, 
exposed the artful designs of the invader, and with the most 
animated eloquence roused his countrymen to a vigorous 
effort for the preservation of their natural liberties. But the 
event was unsuccessful. The battle of theronrea, fought 
337 A. C, decided the fate of Greece, and subjected all the 
states to the dominion of the king of Macedon. But it was 
not his policy to treat them as a conquered people. They 
retained their separate and independent governments, while 
he controuled and directed all the national measures. Con- 
voking a general council of the states, Philip was appointed 
commander in chief of the forces of the nation ; and he laid 
before them his project for the conquest of Persia, appointing 
each republic to furnish its proportional subsidies. On the 
eve of this great enterprise Philip was assassinated by Pau- 
sanias, a captain of his guards, in revenge of a private injury, 
336 A. C. On the death of Philip the Athenians meanly ex- 
pressed the most tumultuous joy, in the hope of a recovery of 

r 



43 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i 

their liberty ; but this visionary prospect was never realized. 
The spirit of the nation was gone ; and in their subsequent 
revolutions they only changed their masters. 



SECTION XVI. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

1. Alexander, the son of Philip, succeeded at the age of 
twenty to the throne of Maeedon, and, after a few successful 
battles against the revolted states, to the command of 
Greece. Assembling the deputies of the nation at Corinth, 
he communicated to them his resolution of prosecuting the 
designs of his father for the conquest of Persia. 

2. With an army of 30000 foot, and 5000 horse, the sum 
of 70 talents, and provisions only for a single month, he cross- 
ed the Hellespont, and in traversing Phrygia visited the tomb 
of Achilles. Darius Codomanus, resolved to crush at once 
this inconsiderate youth, met him on the banks of the Grani- 
cus with 100000 foot and 10000 horse. The Greeks swam 
the river, their king leading the van, and, attacking the 
astonished Persians, left 20000 dead upon the field, and put 
to flight their whole army. Drawing from his first success 
a presage of continued victory, Alexander now sent home his 
fleet, leaving to his army the sole alternative, that they must 
subdue Asia, or perish. Prosecuting their course for some 
time without resistance., the Greeks were attacked by the 
Persians in a narrow valley of Cilicia, near the town of Issus. 
The Persian host amounted to 400000 ; but their situation 
was such that only a small part could come into action, and 
they were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The loss of 
the Persians in this battle was 110000 ; that of the Greeks 
(according to Q. Curtius) only 450. 

3. The history of Alexander by Quintus Curtius, though 
a most elegant composition, is extremely suspicious on the 
score of authentic information. Arrian is the best au- 
thority. 



sect. 16. ANCIENT HISTORY. *3 

4. The generosity of Alexander was displayed after the 
battle of Issus, in his attention to his noble prisoners, the 
mother, the wife, and family of Darius. To the credit of 
Alexander it must be owned, that humanity, however over- 
powered, and at times extinguished by his passions, certainly 
formed a part of his natural character. 

5. The consequence of the battle of Issus was the submis- 
sion of all Syria. Damascus, where Darius had deposited 
his chief treasures, was betrayed and given up by its 
governor. The Phoenicians were pleased to see themselves 
thus avenged for the oppression which they had suffered under 
the yoke of Persia. 

6. Alexander had hitherto borne his good fortune with 
moderation. Felix, says Curtius, si hac continentia ad ulti- 
mum vitai perseverare potuisset ; sednondum Fortuna seanimo 
ejus infudcrat. Which may be thus interpreted. Happy 
would he have been, if he had been able to persevere in this 
moderation to the end of life ; but his mind ivas not yet cor- 
rupted by the influence of prosperity. He directed his course 
toward Tyre, and desired admittance to perform a sacrifice 
to Hercules. The Tyrians shut their gates, and for seven 
months maintained a noble defence. The city was at length 
taken by storm, and the victor glutted his revenge by the 
inhuman massacre of 8000 of the inhabitants. The fate of 
Gaza, gloriously defended by Betis, was equally deplorable 
to its citizens, and more disgraceful to the conqueror. Ten 
thousand of the citizens of Gaza were sold into slavery, and 
its brave defender was dragged at the wheels of the victor's 
chariot : Gloriante rege, Jlchillem, a quo genus ipse deduceret, 
imitatum se esse, pozna in hostem capienda. Curtius. That is, 
the king boasting, that by inflicting this punishment upon his 
enemy, he imitated JLchilles, from -whom he pretended to derive 
his descent. 

7. The taking of Gaza opened Egypt to Alexander, and the 
whole country submitted without opposition. The course 
which he now pursued demonstrated that in his conquests lie 
followed no determined plan. Amidst the most incredible 
fatigues, he led his army through the deserts of Lybia, to visit 
the temple of his father, Jupiter JLmmon. On his return he 



44 ANCIENT HISTORY. past i. 

built Alexandria, at the mouth of the Kile, afterward the 
capital of Lower Egypt, and one of the most flourishing cities 
in the world. Twenty other cities of the same name were 
built by him in the course of his conquests. It is such works 
as these that justly entitle the Macedonian to the epithet of 
Great. By rearing in the midst of deserts those nurseries of 
population and of industry, he repaired the waste and havoc 
of his conquests. Except for those monuments of Ids glory, 
he would have merited no other epithet than that assigned 
him by the brahmins of India, The Mighty Murderer. 

8. Returning from Egypt, Alexander traversed Assyria, 
and was met at Arbelaby Darius, at. the head of 700000 men. 
The Persian had proffered peace, consenting to yield the 
whole country from the Euphrates to the Hellespont, to give 
Alexander his daughter in marriage, and the immense sum 
of 10000 talents. But these terms were haughtily rejected, 
and peace offered only upon the unqualified submission of his 
enemy. The Persians were defeated at Arbela, with the loss 
of 300000 men. Darius fled from province to province. At 
length betrayed by Bessus, one of his own satraps, he was 
cruelly murdered ; and the Persian empire, which had sub- 
sisted for 206 years from the time of Cyrus the great, sub- 
mitted to the conqueror, 339 A. C. 

9. Alexander now projected the conquest of India, firmly 
persuaded that the gods had decreed him the sovereignty of 
the whole habitable globe. He penetrated to the Ganges, 
and would have proceeded to the eastern ocean, if the spirit 
of his army had kept pace with his ambition. But his troops, 
seeing no end to their toils, refused to proceed. He returned 
to the Indus, whence sending round his fleet to the Persian 
gulph under Nearchus, he marched his army across the de- 
sert to Persepolis. 

10. Indignant that he had found a limit to his conquests, 
he abandoned himself to every excess of luxury and de- 
bauchery. The arrogance of his nature, and the ardour of 
liis passions, heightened by continual intemperance, broke 
out into the most outrageous excesses of cruelty, for which, 
in the few intervals of sober reflection, his ingenuous mind 
suffered the keenest remorse. From Persepolis he returned 



sect. 17. ANCIENT HISTORY. £5 I 

to Babylon, and there died in a fit of debauch, in the thirty- 
third year of his age, and thirteenth of his reign, 324 A. C. 

11. Of the character of Alexander the most opposite and 
contradictory estimates have been formed. While by some 
he is esteemed nothing better than a fortunate madman, by 
others he is celebrated for the grandeur, wisdom, and soli- 
dity of his political views. Truth is rarely to be found in 
extreme censure or applause. We may allow to Alexander 
the spirit and the talents of a great military genius, without 
combining with those qualities the sober plans of a profound 
politician. In a moral view of his character, we see an 
excellent and ingenuous nature corrupted at length by an 
unvarying current of success, and a striking example of the 
fatal violence of the passions, when eminence of fortune re- 
moves all restraint, and flattery stimulates to their imcon- 
irouled indulgence. 



SECTION XVII. 

SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 

1. Alexander, on his death-bed, named no successor, but 
gave his ring to Perdiccas, one of his officers. When his 
courtiers asked him to whom he wished the empire to de- 
volve upon his death, he replied, "To the most worthy;"' 
and he is said to have added, that he foresaw this legacy 
would prepare for him very extraordinary funeral rites ; a 
prediction which was fully verified. 

2. Perdiccas, sensible that his pretensions would not jus- 
tify a direct assumption of the government of this vast em- 
pire, brought about a division of the whole among thirty- 
three of the principal officers ; and trusting to their inevi- 
table dissentions, he proposed by that means to reduce all 
of them under his own authority. Hence arose a series of 
wars and intrigues, of which the detail is barren both of 
amusement and useful information. It is sufficient to say, 
that their consequence was a total extirpation of the family 
of Alexander, and a new partition of the empire into four 
great monarchies, the shares of Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cas- 



46 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

sander, and Seleueus. Of these the most powerful were 
that of Syria, under Seleueus and his descendants, and that 
of Egypt under the Ptolemies. 

" We cannot (says Condillac) fix our attention on the his- 
tory of the successors of Alexander, though a great theatre 
is opened to our view, a variety of scenes, and multiplied 
catastrophes. A picture is often displeasing from the very 
circumstance of its greatness. We lose the connection of its 
parts, because the eye cannot take them in at once„ Still 
less will a large picture give us pleasure, if every part of 
it presents a different scene, each unconnected with the 
other." Such is the history of the successors of Alexan- 
der the Great. 

SECTION XVIII. 

FALL AXD CONQUEST OF GREECE. 

1. Nor is the history of G reece, from the period of the 
death of Alexander, any longer an interesting or pleasing 
object of contemplation. Demosthenes once more made a 
noble attempt to vindicate the national freedom, and to 
rouse his countrymen, the Athenians, to shake off the yoke 
of Macedon. But it was too late. The pacific counsels of 
Pliocion suited better the languid spirit of this once illus- 
trious people. 

2. The history of the different republics presents from 
this time nothing but a disgusting series of uninteresting 
revolutions ; with the exception only of that last effort 
made by the Achsean states to revive the expiring liberty 
of their country. The republic of Achaia was a league of 
a few of the smaller states, to vindicate their freedom 
against the domineering spirit of the greater. They com- 
mitted the government of the league to Aratns of Sicyon, 
with the title of preetor, a young man of high ambition, 
who immediately conceived the more extensive project of 
rescuing the whole of Greece from the dominion of Ma- 
cedon. But the jealousy of the greater states rendered 
this scheme abortive. Sparta refused to arrange itself un- 
der the guidance of the prsetor of Achaia : and Aratns, 



sect. 18.' ANCIENT HISTORY 47 

forgetting his patriotic designs, sought only now to wreak 
his vengeance against the Lacedaemonians. For this pur- 
pose, with the most inconsistent policy, he courted the 
aid even of the Macedonians : the very tyrants who had 
enslaved his country. 

3. The period was now come for the intervention of a 
foreign power, which was to reduce all under its wide- 
spreading dominion. The Romans were at this time the 
most powerful of all the contemporary nations. The people 
of Etolia, attacked by the Macedonians, with a rash policy 
besought the aid of the Romans, who, eager to add to their 
dominion this devoted country, cheerfully obeyed the sum- 
mons, and speedily accomplished the reduction of Macedo- 
nia. Perseus, its last sovereign, was led captive to Rome, and. 
graced the triumph of Paulus iEmilius, 167 A C. From 
that period the Romans were hastily advancing to the domi- 
nion of all Greece ; a progress in which their art was more 
conspicuous than their virtue. They gained their end by 
fostering dissensions between the states, which they directed 
to their own advantage, corrupting their principal citizens, 
and using, in fine, every art of the most insidious policy. A 
pretext was only wanting to unsheathe the sword, and this 
was furnished by the Achaean states, who insulted the depu- 
ties of imperial Rome. This drew on them at once the re- 
sentment of the Romans. Metellus marched his legions into 
Greece, gave them battle, and entirely defeated them. 
Mummius the consul terminated the work, and made an easy 
conquest of the whole of Greece, which from that time be- 
came a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, 146 A. C. 

4. Rome had acquired from her conquests a flood of 
wealth, and began now to manifest a taste for luxury, and a 
spirit of refinement. In these points Greece was to its con- 
querors an instructer and a model; and, even though van- 
quished, was regarded with a species of respect bj its ruder 
masters. 

Grxcia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes 

Intulit agresti Latio. — Hoe. Epist. Lib. ii. 

That is, captive Greece captivated its fierce conquerors, and introduced a 
taste for the fine arts into the rude country of Latium* 



48 ANCIENT HISTORY. part ? 

SECTION XIX. 

POLITICAL REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM THE HISTORY OF 
THE STATES OF GREECE. 

1. The revolutions which the states of Greece underwent, 
and the situations into which they Avere thrown by their con- 
nection and differences with each other, and their wars with 
foreign nations, were so various, that their history is a 
school of instruction in political science. The surest test of 
the truth or falsehood of abstract principles of politics is, 
their application to actual experience, and to the history of 
nations. 

2. The oppression which the states of Greece suffered un- 
der their ancient despots, who were subject to no constitu- 
tional eontroul, was a most justifiable motive for their esta- 
blishing new forms of government, which promised them the 
enjoyment of greater political freedom. We believe too that 
those new forms of government were framed by their vir- 
tuous legislators in the true spirit of patriotism. But as to 
the real merits of those political fabrics, it is certain that 
they were very far from corresponding in practice with what 
was expected from them in theory. We seek in vain, either 
in the history of Athens or Lacedeemon, for the beautiful idea 
of a well-ordered commonwealth. The revolutions of govern- 
ment which they were ever experiencing, the eternal factions 
with which they were embroiled, plainly demonstrate that 
there was a radical defect in the structure of the machine, 
which precluded the possibility of regular motion. The con- 
dition of the people under those governments was such as 
partook more of servitude and oppression, than that of the 
subjects of the most despotic monarchies. The slaves form- 
ed the actual majority of the inhabitants in all the states of 
Greece. To these the free citizens were rigorous bond-mas- 
ters. Bondage being a consequence of the contraction of 
debts even by freemen, a great proportion of these was sub- 
ject to the tyrannical eontroul of their fellow-citizens. Nor 
were the richer classes in the actual enjoyment of indeperid- 



sect. 19. ANCIENT HISTORY. 49 

denee. They were perpetually divided into factions, which 
servilely ranked themselves under the banners of the con- 
tending chiefs of the republic. Those parties were kept 
together solely by corruption. The whole was therefore a 
system of servility and debasement of spirit, which left noth- 
ing of a free or ingenuous nature in the condition of indivi- 
duals, nor any thing that could furnish encomium to a real ad- 
vocate for the dignity of human nature. 

Such was the condition of the chief republics of antiquity. 
Their governments promised in theory, what they never eon- 
fered in practice, the political happiness of the citizens. 

3. It is the fundamental theory of Montesquieu's Spirit 
of Laws, that the three distinct forms of government, the 
monarchical, despotical, and republican, are influenced by 
the three separate principles of honour, fear, and virtue ; 
and this theory is the foundation on which the author builds 
a great part of his political doctrines. That each of these 
principles is exclusively essential to its respective form of 
government, but unnecessary, and even prejudicial in the 
others, is a position contrary both to reason and to truth. 
No form of government can subsist where every one of those 
principles has not its operation. The admission of such a 
theory leads to the most miseheivous conclusions ; as, for 
example, that in monarchies the state dispenses with virtue 
in its officers and magistrates ; that public employments 
ought to be venal ; and that crimes, if kept secret, are of 
no consequence. 

4. It is only in the infant periods of the Grecian history 
that we are to look for those splendid examples of patriotism 
and heroic virtue, which the ardent mind of uncorrupted 
youth will ever delight to contemplate. The most remark- 
able circumstance which strikes us on comparing the latter 
with the more early periods of the history of the Greeks, 
is the total change in the genius and spirit of the people. 
The ardour of patriotism, the thirst of military glory, the 
enthusiasm of liberty, decline with the rising grandeur and 
opulence of the nation ; and an enthusiasm of another spe- 
cies succeeds, and far less worthy in its aim; an admiration 
of the fine arts, a violent passion for the objects of taste, 



50 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

and for the refinements of luxury. This leads us to consider 
Greece in the light in which, after the loss of its liberty, 
it still continued to attract the admiration of other nations, 



SECTION XX. 

STATE OF THE ARTS IN GREECE. 

1. It is not among the Greeks that we are to look for 
the greatest improvements in the useful and necessary arts of 
life. In agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, they were 
never greatly distinguished. But in those which are termed 
the fine arts Greece surpassed all the contemporary nations. 
The monuments of those which yet remain are the models of 
imitation, and the confessed standard of excellence, in the 
judgment of the most polished nations of modern times. 

2. After the defeat of Xerxes the active spirit of the Athe- 
nians, which would have otherwise languished for want of 
an object, taking a new direction from luxury, displayed itself, 
signally, in all the works of taste in the fine arts. The ad- 
ministration of Pericles was the sera of luxury and splen- 
dour. The arts broke out at once with surprising lustre ; 
and architecture, sculpture, and painting, were carried to the 
summit of perfection. This golden age of the arts in Greece 
endured for about a century, till after the death of Alexander 
the great. 

5. The Greeks were the parents of that system of archi- 
tecture, which is universally allowed to be the most perfect. 

The Greek architecture consisted of three distinct orders; 
the Doric, the Ionic, and Corinthian. 

The Doric order has a masculine grandeur, and a superior- 
air of strength to both the others. It is therefore best adapted 
to works of great magnitude, and of a sublime character. 
The character of sublimity is essentially connected with 
chasteness and simplicity. Of this order is the temple of 
Theseus at Athens, built ten years after the battle of Mara- 
thon, and at this day almost entire. 



sect. 20. ANCIENT HISTORY. 5£ 

The Ionic order is light and elegant. The former has a 
masculine grandeur; the latter a feminine elegance. The 
Ionic is likewise simple : for simplicity is an essential 
requisite in true beauty. Of this order were the temple of 
Apollo at Miletus, the temple of the Delphic oracle ; and the 
temple of Diana at Ephesus. 

The Corinthian marks an age of luxury and magnificence, 
when pomp and splendour had become the predominant pas- 
sion, but had not yet extinguished the taste for the sublime 
and beautiful. It attempts therefore a union of all these 
characters, but does not satisfy the chastened judgment, it 
pleases only a corrupted taste. 

" First unadorned, 

" And nobly plain, the manly Doric rose ; 

" The Ionic then, with decent matron grace, 

" Her airy pillar heav'd ; luxuriant, last, 

" The rich Corinthian spread her wanton wreath." 

Thomson's Liberty, Part 2. 

i. The Tuscan and the Composite orders are of Italian 
origin. The Etruscan architecture appears to have been 
nearly allied to the Grecian, but to have possessed an inferior 
degree of elegance. The Trajan column at Rome is of this 
order ; less remarkable for the beauty of its proportions than 
for the admirable sculpture which decorates it. The Com- 
posite order is what its name implies; it shows that the 
Greeks had exhausted all the principles of grandeur and 
beauty in the three original orders ; and that it was not pos- 
sible to frame a fourth order, except by combining the for- 
mer. 

5. The Gothic architecture offers no contradiction to these 
observations. The effect which it produces cannot be altoge- 
ther explained from the rules of symmetry or harmony in 
the proportions between the several parts ; but depends on a 
certain idea of vastness, gloominess, and solemnity, which 
are powerful ingredients in the sublime. 

6. Sculpture was brought by the Greeks tor as high perfec- 
tion as architecture. The remains of Grecian sculpture are 
at this day the most perfect models of the art ; and the mo- 
dern artists have no means of attaining to excellence so cer- 
tain as the study of those great master-pieces. 



52 ANCIENT HISTORY. part t. 

7. Tiie excellence of the Greeks in sculpture may perhaps 
be accounted for chiefly from their often having the human 
figure quite naked before their eyes ; and in all its various 
attitudes, both in the palcestra, and in their public games. 
The antique statues have therefore a grandeur united with 
perfect simplicity, because the attitude is not the result of an 
artificial disposition of the figure, as in the modern academies, 
but is nature unconstrained. Thus, in the Dying Gladiator, 
when we observe the relaxation of the muscles, and the visible 
failure of strength and life, we cannot doubt that nature was 
the sculptor's immediate model of imitation*. 

8. This nature was in reality superior to what we now 
see in the ordinary race of men. The constant practice of 
gymnastic exercises gave a finer conformation of body than 
what is now to be found in the vitiated pupils of modern 
effeminacy, the artificial children of modern fashion. 

9. A secondary cause of the eminence of the Greeks in the 
arts of design, was their theology, which furnished an ample 
exercise for the genius of the sculptor and painter. 

10. We must speak with more diffidence of the ability of 
the Greeks in painting, than of their superiority in sculpture ; 
because the existing specimens of the former are extremely 
rare, and the pieces which are preserved are probably not the 
most excellent. But in the want of actual evidence, we have 
every presumption that the Greeks had attained to equal per- 
fection in the art of painting and in sculpture : for if we 
find the judgment given by ancient writers of their excellence 
in sculpture confirmed by the universal assent of the best 
critics among the moderns, we have every reason to presume 
an equal rectitude in the judgment which the same ancient 
writers have pronounced upon their paintings. If Pliny is 
right in his opinion of the merits of those statues which yet 
remain, the Venus of Praxiteles, and the Laocoon of Ages^ 
auder, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, we have no reason to 
suppose his taste to be less just, when he celebrates the merits, 
and critically characterizes the different manners of Zeuxis, 

* Cresilas vulneratutn dejicientem Jecit, ex quo possit intelligi quantum restet 
animi. Piin. lib. 36. Cresilas has represented a wounded man fainting, from 
which we may perceive how much life still remains. 



sect. 21. ANCIENT HISTORY. 53 

Apelles, Parrhasius, Protogenes, and Timanthes, whose 
works have peristied. 

11. The paintings found in Herculaneuni, Pompeii, the 
Sepulchrum Nasonianum at Rome, were probably the work 
of Greek artists ; for the Romans were never eminent in any 
of the arts dependent on design. These paintings exhibit 
great knowledge of proportions, and of the chiaro-obscuro ; 
but betray ignorance of the rules of perspective. 

12. The music of the ancients appears to have been very 
greatly inferior to that of the moderns. 

13. The peculiar genius of the Greeks in the fine arts ex- 
tended its effects to the revolutions of their states, and in- 
fluenced their fate as a nation. 



SECTION XXI. 

OF THE GREEK POETS. 

1. The Greeks were the first who reduced the athletic 
exercises to a system, and considered them as an object of 
general attention and importance. The Panathensean, and 
afterward the Olympic, the Pythian, Nemsean, and Isthmian 
games, were under the regulation of the laws. They con- 
tributed essentially to the improvement of the nation ; and, 
while they cherished martial ardour, and promoted hardiness 
and agility of body, they cultivated likewise urbanity and 
politeness. 

2. The games of Greece were not confined to gymnastic 
or athletic exercises. They encouraged competitions in 
genius and learning. They were the resort of the poets, the 
historians, and the philosophers. 

3. In all nations poetry is of greater antiquity than prose 
composition. The earliest prose writers in Greece, Pherecy- 
des of Scyros, and Cadmus of Miletus, were 350 years pos- 
terior to Homer. Any remains of the more ancient poets, as 
Linus, Orpheus, &c, are extremely suspicious. Homer is 
generally supposed to have flourished about 907 A. C. ; to 
have followed the occupation of a wandering minstrel; and to 



5£ ANCIENT HISTORY. nsi i. 

have composed his poems in detached fragments, and separate 
ballads, and episodes. Pisistratus, about 540 A. C, employed 
some learned men to collect and methodize those fragments ; 
and to him we owe the complete poems of the Iliad and 
Odyssey. The distinguishing merits of Homer are, his pro- 
found knowledge of human nature, his faithful and minute 
description of ancient manners, his genius for the sublime 
and beautiful, and the harmony of his poetical numbers. His 
fidelity as a historian has been questioned ; but the great out- 
lines of his narrative are probably authentic. 

4. Hesiod was nearly contemporary with Homer ; a poet 
of whose merits we should be little sensible, if they were not 
seen through the medium of an immense antiquity. The poem 
of the Works and Days contains some judicious precepts of 
agriculture. The Theogony is an obscure history of the 
origin of the gods, and the formation of the universe. 

5. About two centuries after Homer and Hesiod flourished 
Archilochus, the inventor of Iambic verse ; Terpander, 
equally eminent as a poet and a musician ; Sappho, of whose 
composition we have two exquisite odes ; Aleseus and Simoni- 
des, of whom there are some fine fragments ; and Pindar and 
Anacreon, who have left enough to allow an accurate estimate 
of their merits. 

6. Pindar was esteemed by the ancients the chief of the 
lyric poets. He possesses unbounded fancy, and great sub- 
limity of imagery ; but his digressions are so rapid and so 
frequent, that we cannot discover the chain of thought; and 
his expression is allowed, even by Longinus, to be often ob- 
scure and unintelligible. 

7. Anacreon is a great contrast to Pindar. His fancy 
suggests only familiar and luxurious pictures. He has no 
comprehension of the sublime, but contents himself with the 
easy, the graceful, and the wanton. His morality is loose, 
and his sentiments are little better than the effusions of a 
voluptuary. 

8. The collection termed Jlnthologia, which consists chiefly 
of ancient epigrams, contains many valuable specimens of 
the taste and poetical fancy of the Greeks, and contributes 



sect. 21. ANCIENT HISTORY- 55 

materially to the illustration of their manners. The best of 
the modern epigrams rnay be traced to this source. 

9. The sera of the origin of dramatie composition among 
the Greeks is about 590 A. C. Thespis was contemporary 
with Solon. Within little more than a century the Greek 
drama was carried to its highest perfection, for iEschylus 
died 456 A. C. iEschylus wrote sixty-six tragedies; for 
thirteen of which he gained the first prize of dramatic poetry 
at the Olympic games. Like Shakspeare, his genius is su- 
blime, and his imagination unbounded. He disdained re- 
gularity of plan, and all artificial restriction; but unfor- 
tunately he disdained likewise the restraints of decency and 
of good morals. 

10. Euripides and Sophocles flourished about fifty years 
after iEschylus. Euripides is most masterly in painting the 
passion of love, both in its tenderest emotions, and in its most 
violent paroxysms : jet the characters of his women demon- 
strate that he had no great opinion of the virtues of the 
sex. Longinus does not rate high his talent for the su- 
blime. But he possessed a much superior excellence : his 
verses, with great eloquence and harmony, breathe the most 
admirable morality. There remain twenty tragedies of 
Euripides ; and of these the Medea is deemed the best. 

11. Sophocles shared with Euripides the palm of dramatic 
poetry; and is judged to have surpassed him in the grand and 
sublime. Of 120 tragedies which he composed, only seven 
remain. They display great knowledge of the human hearty 
and a general chastity and simplicity of expression, which 
gave the greater force to the occasional strokes of the su- 
blime. The Oedipus of Sophocles is esteemed the most per- 
fect production of the Greek stage. 

12. The Greek comedy is divided into the ancient, the mid- 
dle, and the new. The first was a licentious satire and 
mimicry of real personages, exhibited by name upon the 
stage. The laws repressed this extreme licence, and gave 
birth to the middle comedy, which continued the satirical 
delineation of real persons, but under fictitious names. The 
last improvement consisted in banishing all personal satire, 
and confining comedy to a delineation of manners. This 



gg ANCIENT HISTORY. part t. 

was the new comedy. Of the first species, the ancient, we 
have no remains. The dramas of Aristophanes are an ex- 
ample of the second or middle comedy. The grossness of his 
raillery, and the malevolence which frequently inspired it, are 
a reproach to the morals of that people which could tolerate it. 
Yet his works have their value, as throwing light upon an- 
cient manners. 

13. Of the new comedy Menander was the bright exam- 
ple ; possessing a vein of the most delicate wit, with the ut- 
most purity of moral sentiment. Unfortunately we have noth- 
ing of him remaining but a few fragments preserved by 
Athenseus. We see a great deal of his merits, however, in 
his copyist and translator, Terence. 

14. The actors, both in the Greek and Roman theatres, 
wore masks, of which the features were strongly painted, 
and the mouth was so constructed as to increase the power 
of the voice. It is probable that the tragedy and comedy of 
the Greeks and Romans were set to music, and sung, like the 
recitative in the Italian opera. Sometimes one person was 
employed to recite or sing the part, and another to perform the 
corresponding action or gesticulation. 

15. The mimes were burlesque parodies on the serious 
tragedy and comedy. The pantomimes consisted solely of 
gesticulation, and were carried to great perfection. 



SECTION XXII. 

OF THE GREEK HISTORIANS. 

1. The most eminent of the Greek historians were contem- 
poraries. Herodotus died 413 A. C. ; Thucydides, 391 A. C; 
and Xenophon was about twenty years younger than Thucy- 
dides. Herodotus writes the joint history of the Greeks and 
Persians, from the time of Cyrus to the battles of Platsea 
and Mycale. He likewise treats incidentally of the Egyp- 
tians, Assyrians, Medes, and Lydians. His veracity is to be 
depended on in all matters that fell under his own observa- 
tion ; but he admits too easily the reports of others, and is 



sect. S3. ANCIENT HISTORY. 57 

in general fond of the marvellous. His style is pure, and lie 
has a copious elocution. 

2. Thueydides, an able general, has written, with great 
ability, the history of the first twenty-one years of the 
Peloponnesian war % introducing it with a short narrative of 
the preceding periods of the history of Greece. He is justly 
esteemed for his fidelity and candour. His style is a con- 
trast to the full and flowing period of Herodotus, possessing 
a sententious brevity, which is at once lively and energetic. 
The history of the remaining six years of the war of Pelo- 
ponnesus was written by Theopompus and Xenophon. 

3. Xenophon commanded the Greek army in the service 
of Cyrus the younger, in his culpable enterprize against his 
brother Artaxerxes. (See Sect. XIII, § 6.) After the failure 
of this enterprize, Xenophon directed that astonishing retreat 

*from Babylon to the Euxine, of which he has given a splen- 
did and faithful narrative. He wrote likewise the Cyropedia, 
or his history of the elder Cyrus, which is believed to be 
rather an imaginary delineation of an accomplished prince 
than a real narration. He continued the history of Thuey- 
dides, and has left two excellent political tracts on the con- 
stitutions of Laeedsemon and Athens. His style is simple 
and energetic, familiar, unadorned, and free from all affecta- 
tion. 

4. Greece, in its decline, produced some historians of great 
eminence. Poly bi us, a native of Megalopolis, wrote forty 
books of the Roman and Greek history during his own age ; 
that is, from the beginning of the second Punic war to the 
reduction of Macedonia into a Roman province ; but of this 
great work only the first five books are entire, with an epito- 
me of the following twelve. He merits less the praise of 
eloquence and purity, than of authentic information and most 
judicious reflection. 

5. Diodorus Siculus flourished in the time of Augustus, and 
composed, in forty books, a general history of the world, un- 
der the title of Bibliotheca Historica. No more remain thaa 
fifteen books ; of which the first five treat of the fabulous 
periods, and the history of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Psi*. 



58 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

sians, Greeks, &c, prior to the Trojan war. The next five 
are wanting. The remainder brings down the history from 
the expedition of Xerxes into Greece till after the death of 
Alexander the Great. He is taxed with chronological in- 
accuracy in the earlier parts of his work ; but the authenticity 
and correctness of the later periods are unimpeached. 

6. Bionysius of Halicarnassus, eminent both as a historian 
and rhetorician, flourished in the age of Augustus. His Ho- 
mau Antiquities contain much valuable information, though 
they are too much tinctured with the spirit of systematizing. 

7. Plutarch, a native of Cheronea in Boeotia, flourished in 
the reign of Nero. His Lives of Illustrious Men is one of 
the most valuable of the literary works of the ancients ; in- 
troducing us to an acquaintance with the private character 
and manners of those eminent persons, whose public achieve- 
ments are recorded by professed historians. His morality is 
excellent; and his style, though not eloquent, is clear and 
energetic. 

8. Arrian wrote, in the reign of Adrian, seven books of 
of the wars of Alexander, with great judgment and fidelity ; 
his narrative being composed on the authority of Aristobulus 
and Ptolemy, two of Alexander's principal officers. His style 
is unadorned, but chaste, perspicuous, and manly. 



SECTION XXIII. 

Or THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 

1. After the time of Homer and Ilesiod, the increasing 
relish for poetical composition gave rise to a set of men 
termed rhapsodists, whose employment was to recite, at the 
games and festivals, the compositions of the older poets ? 
and to comment on their merits, and explain their doctrines. 
Some of these, founding schools of instruction, were digni- 
fied by their pupils with the epithet of Sophists, or teachers 
of wisdom. 

2. The most ancient school of philosophy was that founded 
by Thales, 640 A. C, and termed the Ionic. Thales is cele- 



sect. 23. ANCIENT HISTORY. 59 

brated for Lis knowledge of geometry and astronomy. His 
metaphysical doctrines are imperfectly known. He taught 
the belief of a first cause, and an over-ruling providence ; but 
supposed the -Divinity to animate the universe, as the soul 
animates the body. The moral doctrines of the Ionic school 
were pure and rational. The most eminent of the disciples 
of Thales were Anasimander and Anaxagoras. 

3. Soon after the Ionic arose the Italian sect, founded by 
Pythagoras, who was born about 586 A. C. He is supposed 
to have derived much of his knowledge from Egypt ; and he 
had, like the Egyptian priests, a public dootrine for the peo- 
ple, and a private doctrine for his disciples ; the former a good 
system of morals, the latter probably unintelligible mys- 
tery. His notions of the Divinity were akin to those of 
Thales ; but he believed in the eternity of the universe, and 
its co-existence with the Deity. He taught the transmigra- 
tion of the soul through different bodies. His disciples lived 
in common ; abstained rigorously from the flesh of animals 1 
and held music in high estimation, as a corrective of the 
passions. Pythagoras believed the earth to be a sphere, 
the planets to be inhabited, and the fixed stars to be the 
suns and centres of other systems. His most eminent fol- 
lowers were Empedocles, Epicharmus, Ocellus Lucanus, 
Timseus, Archytas. 

i. The Eleatic sect was founded by Xenophanes, about 
500 A. C. Its chief supporters were Parmenides, Zeno, 
and Leucippus, citizens of Elea. The metaphysical notions 
of this sect were utterly unintelligible. They maintained 
that things had neither beginning, end, nor any change; and 
that all the changes which we perceive are in our own senses. 
Yet Leucippus taught the doctrine of atoms, whence he sup- 
posed all material substances to be formed. Of this sect were 
Democritus and Heraelitus. 

5. The Socratie school arose from the Ionic, Socrates 
died 401 A. C, the wisest, the most virtuous of the Greeks. 
He exploded the futile logic of the Sophists, which consisted 
of a set of general arguments applicable to all manner of 
questions, and by which they could, with an appearance of 
plausibility, maintain either side of any proposition. Socrates 



& g ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

always brought his antagonist to particulars j beginning with 
a simple and undeniable position, which being granted, ano- 
ther followed equally undeniable, till the disputant was con- 
ducted step by step, by his own concessions, to that side of 
the question on which lay the truth. His rivals lost all credit 
as philosophers, but had influence to procure the destruction 
of the man who had exposed them. The doctrines of Socrates 
are to be learned from Plato and Xenophon. He taught the 
belief of a first cause, whose beneficence is equal to his 
power, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He inculca- 
ted the moral agency of man, the immortality of the soul, 
and a future state of reward and punishment. He exploded 
the polytheistic superstitions of his country, and thence be- 
came the victim of an accusation of impiety. (See Section 
XIII, §5.) 

6. The morality of Socrates was successfully cultivated by 
the Cyrenaic sect, but was pushed to extravagance by the 
Cynics. Virtue, in their opinion, consisted in renouncing 
all the conveniences of life. They clothed themselves in 
rags, slept and eat in the streets, or wandered about the coun- 
try with a stick and a knapsack. They condemned all know- 
ledge as useless. They associated impudence with ignorance, 
and indulged themselves in scurrility and invective without 
restraint. 

7. The Megarean sect was the happy inventor of logical 
syllogism, or the art of quibbling. 

8. Plato was the founder of the Academic sect, a philoso- 
pher, whose doctrines have had a more extensive influence 
over the minds of mankind than those of any other among 
the ancients. This is in part owing to their intrinsic merit, 
and in part to the eloquence with which they have been pro- 
pounded. Plato had the most sublime ideas of the Divinity 
and his attributes. He taught that the human soul was a 
portion of the Divinity, a:id that this alliance with the 
eternal mind might be improved into actual intercourse with 
the Supreme Being, by abstracting the soul from all the 
corruptions which it derives from the body : a doctrine highly 
flattering to the pride of man, and generating that mystical 



sect. 23. . ANCIENT HISTORY; 61 

enthusiasm which has the most powerful empire over a warm 
imagination. 

9. The Platonic philosophy found its chief opponents in 
four remarkable sects, the Peripatetic, the Sceptic, the Stole, 
and the Epicurean. 

10. Aristotle, the founder of the Peripatetic sect, was the 
tutor of Alexander the Great, and established his school in 
the Lyceum at Athens : a philosopher whose tenets have 
found more zealous partizans, and more rancorous opponents, 
than those of any other. His Metaphysics, from the senten- 
tious brevity of his expression, are extremely obscure, and 
have given rise to numberless commentaries. The best 
analysis of his doctrines is given by Dr. lleid, in Lord 
Karnes's Sketches of the History of Man. His physical 
works are the result of great observation and acquaintance 
with nature ; and his critical writings, as his Poetics and 
Art of Rhetoric, display both taste and judgment. The 
latter works will ever continue to be most valued. The pe- 
culiar passion of Aristotle was that of classifying, arrang- 
ing, and combining the objects of his knowledge, so as to 
reduce all to a few principles : a very dangerous propensity 
in philosophy, and repressive of improvement in science. 

It. The Sceptical sect was founded by Pyrrho. They 
formed no systems of their own, but endeavoured to weaken 
the foundations of those of all others. They inculcated- uni- 
versal doubt, as the only true wisdom. There was, in their 
opinion, no essential difference between vice and virtue, fur- 
ther than as human compact had discriminated them. Tran- 
quillity of mind they supposed to be the state of the greatest 
happiness j and this was to be attained by absolute indifference 
to all dogmas or opinions. 

12. The Stoics, proposing to themselves the same end, 
tranquillity of mind, took a nobler path to arrive at it. They 
endeavoured to raise themselves above ail the passions and 
feelings of humanity. They believed all nature, and God him- 
self the soul of the universe, to be regulated by fixed and 
immutable laws. The human soul being a portion of the Di- 
vinity, man cannot complain of being actuated hj that neces- 
sity which actuates the Divinity himself, His pains and his 



62 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

pleasures are determined by the same laws which determine 
his existence. Virtue consists in accommodating the dispo- 
sition of the mind to the immutable laws of nature ; vice in 
opposing those laws : vice therefore is folly, and virtue the 
only true wisdom. A beautiful picture of the Stoical philoso- 
phy is found in the Enchiridion of Epictetus, and in the Me- 
ditations of M. Aurelius Antoninus. See Carter's Translation 
of the former work, and Madan's Translation of the latter. 

13. Epicurus taught that man's supreme happiness con- 
sisted in pleasure. He limited the term so as to make it 
mean only the practice of virtue. But if pleasure is allowed 
to be the object, every man will draw it from those sources 
which he finds can best supply it. It might have been the 
pleasure of Epicurus to he chaste and temperate. We are 
told that it was so. But others find their pleasure in intem- 
perance and luxury; and such was the taste of his principal 
followers. Epicurus held that the Deity was indifferent to 
all the actions of man. His followers therefore had no other 
counsellor than their own conscience, and no other guide 
than the instinctive desire of their own happiness. 

14. The Greek philosophy, on the whole, affords little 
more than a picture of the imbecility and caprice of the hu- 
man mind. Its teachers, instead of experiment and obser- 
vation, satisfied themselves with constructing theories ; and 
these, wanting fact for their basis, have only served to per- 
plex the understanding, and to retard equally the advance- 
ment of sound morality and the progress of useful know- 
ledge. 

SECTION XXIV. 

THE HISTORY OF ROME. 

1. In the delineation of ancient history, Rome, after the 
conquest of Greece, becomes the leading object of attention. 
The history of this empire, in its progress to universal domi- 
nion, and afterward in its decline and fall, involves a collate- 
ral account of all the other nations of antiquity, which in 
those periods are deserving of our consideration. 



sect. 24. ANCIENT HISTORY 63 

2. Though we cannot determine the sera when Italy was 
first peopled, yet we have every reason to believe that it was 
inhabited by a refined and cultivated nation many ages before 
the Roman name was known. These were the Etruscans, of 
whom there exist at this day monuments in the fine arts, 
which prove them to have been a splendid, luxurious, and 
highly polished people. Their alphabet, resembling the 
Phoenician, disposes us to believe them of eastern origin. 
The Roman historians mention them as a powerful and opu- 
lent nation long before the origin of Rome ; and Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus deduces most of the religious rites of the 
Romans from Etruria. ' Tuscorum ante Romanum imperinm 
late terra marique opes patuere. — Liv. lib. v. SB. The power 
and wealth of the Tuscans were very extensive both by land 
and sea before the origin of the Roman nation. 

S. The rest of Italy was divided among a number of inde- 
pendent tribes or nations, comparatively in a rude and uncul- 
tivated state; Umbrians, Ligurians, Sabines, Veientes, La- 
tins, iEqui, .Yolsci, &c. Latium, a territory of fifty miles in 
length and sixteen in breadth, contained forty-seven independ- 
ent cities or states. 

<&. The origin of the city and state of Rome is involved in 
great uncertainty. Dionysius supposes two cities of that 
name to have existed, and to have perished before the founda- 
tion of the city built by Romulus. The vulgar account of 
the latter is, that it was founded 752 A. C. by a troop of shep- 
herds or banditti, who peopled their new city by carrying 
off the wives and daughters of their neighbours, the Sabines. 

5. The great outlines of the first constitution of the Ro- 
man government, though generally attributed to the political 
abilities of Romulus, seem to have a natural foundation in 
the usages of barbarous nations. Other institutions bear the 
traces of political skill and positive enactment. 

6. Romulus is said to have divided his people into three 
tribes, and each tribe into ten curioz. The lands he distribut- 
ed into three portions ; one for the support of the govern- 
ment, another for the maintenance of religion, and the third 
for the use of the Roman citizens, which he divided into equal 
portions of two acres to each citizen. He instituted a senate 



6 fa ANCIENT HISTORY. i-art i. 

of 100 members (afterward increased to 200), who deliberat- 
ed on and prepared all public measures for the assembly of 
the people, in whom was vested the right of determination. 
The patrician families were the descendants of those centum 
patres (hundred fathers). 

7. The king had the nomination of the senators, the privi- 
lege of assembling the people, and a right of appeal in all 
questions of importance. He had the command of the army, 
and the office of pontrfex rnaximus (Jiigh priest). He had, as a 
guard, twelve lictors, and a troop of horsemen named celercs, 
or equites, afterward the distinct order of Roman knights. 
These regulations are of positive institution : others arose 
naturally from the state of society. 

8. The patina, potestas (paternal authority) is of the lat- 
ter nature, being common to all barbarous tribes. The li- 
mitation of all arts to the slaves arose from the constant em- 
ployment of the citizens in warfare or in agriculture. 

9. The connection of patron and client was an admirable 
institution, which at once united the citizens, and maintain- 
ed a useful subordination. 

10. The Sabines were the most formidable enemy of the 
early Romans ; and a wise policy united for a while the two 
nations into one state. After the death of Romulus, who 
reigned thirty-seven years, Numa, a Sabine, was elected 
king. His disposition was pious and pacific; and he endea- 
voured to give his people the same character. He pretended 
to divine inspiration, to give the greater authority to his 
laws, which in themselves were excellent. He multiplied 
the national gods, built temples, and instituted different 
classes of priests, famines, salii, &c, and a variety of reli- 
gious ceremonies. The ilamines officiated each in the ser- 
vice of a particular deity ; the salii guarded the sacred buck- 
lers ; the vestals cherished the sacred fire ; the augurs and 
aruspices divined future events from the flight of birds, and 
the entrails of victims. The temple of Janus was open in 
war, and shut during peace. Numa reformed the calendar, 
regulating the year at twelve lunar months, and distinguish- 
ed the days for civil occupation (fasti) from th^se dedicated. 



sect. 24. ANCIENT HISTORY. 65 

to religious rest (iiefasti). Agriculture was lawful on the 
latter, as a duty of religion. Numa reigned forty-three years. 

11. Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome, of warlike 
disposition, subdued the Albans, Fidenates, and other neigh- 
bouring states. The Sabines, now disunited from the Ro- 
mans, were among the most powerful of their enemies. Tul- 
lus reigned thirty-three years. 

12. Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa, was elected 
king on the death of Tullus. He inherited the piety and virtues 
of his grandfather, and joined to these the talents of a war- 
rior. He increased the population of Rome, by naturalizing 
some of the conquered states ; enlarged and fortiiied the city, 
and built the port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber. He 
reigned gloriously twenty-four years. 

13. Tarquinius Prisons, a citizen of Corinth, popular from 
his wealth and liberality, was elected to the vacant throne. 
He enlarged the senate by 100 new members from the ple- 
beian families, patres minor um gentium (the fathers of the less 

families. This body consisted now of 300, at which ,number it 
remained for some centuries. Tarquin was victorious in his 
wars, and adorned and improved the city with works of uti- 
lity and magnificence. Such were the circus or hippodrome, 
the walls of hewn stone ; the capitol; the cloacse, those im- 
mense common sewers, which lead to the belief that the new 
Rome had been built on the ruins of an ancient city of great- 
er magnitude. Tarquinius was assassinated in the thirty- 
eighth year of his reign. 

14. Servius Tullius, who had married the daughter of 
Tarquinius, secured, by his own address and the intrigues of 
his mother-in-law, his election to the vacant throne. He 
courted popularity by acts of munificence ; discharging the 
debts of the poor, dividing among the citizens his patrimo- 
nial lands, improving the city with useful edifices, and ex- 
tending its boundaries. The new arrangement which he in- 
troduced in the division of the Roman citizens is a proof of 
much political ability, and merits attention, because on it 
depended many of the revolutions of the republic. 

15. From the time that the Romans had admitted the Al- 
bans and Sabines to the rights of citizens, the urban and 

i 



66 ANCIENT HISTORY. - part i. 

rustic tribes were composed of those three nations. Each, 
tribe being divided into ten curias, and every curiae having 
an equal vote in the comitia, as each individual had in his 
tribe, all questions were decided by the majority of suffrages. 
There was no pre-eminence between the curice, and the or- 
der in which they gave their votes was determined by lot. 
This was a reasonable constitution, so long as the fortunes of 
the citizens were nearly on a par; but, when riches came to 
be unequally divided, it was obvious that much inconvenience 
must have arisen from this equal partition of power, as the 
rich could easily, by bribery, command the suffrages of the 
poor. Besides, all the taxes had hitherto been levied by the 
head, without any regard to the inequality of fortunes. These 
obvious defects furnished to Servius a just pretext for an en- 
tire change of system. His plan was, to remove the poorer 
citizens from all share of the government, while the burdens 
attending its support should fall solely on the rich. 

16. All the citizens were required, under a heavy penalty, 
to declare upon oath their names, dwellings, number of their 
children, and amount of their fortune. After this numeration 
or census, Servius divided the whole citizens, without distinc- 
tion, into four tribes, named, from the quarters where they 
dwelt, the Palatine, Suburran, Collatine, and Esquiline. Be- 
side this local division, Servius distributed the whole people 
into six classes, and each class into several centuries or 
portions of citizens, so called, not as actually consisting of 
a hundred, but as being obliged to furnish and maintain 100 
men in time of war. In the first class, which consisted of the 
richest citizens, or those who were worth at least 100 mince 
(about 3001. sterling), there were no less than ninety-eight 
centuries. In the second class (those worth 75 mince) there 
were twenty-two centuries. In the third (those worth 50 mi- 
nce) were twenty centuries. In the fourth (those worth 25 
minie) twenty-two centuries. In the fifth (those worth 12 
mince) thirty centuries. The sixth, the most numerous of 
the whole, comprehending all the poorer citizens, furnish- 
ed only one century. Thus the whole Roman people were 
divided into 193 centuries, or portions of citizens, so called, 
as furnishing each a hundred soldiers. The sixth class was 



sect. 24. ANCIENT HISTORY. 67 

declared exempt from all taxes. The other classes, according 
to the number of centuries of which they consisted, were 
rated for the public burdens at so much for each century. 

17. The poor had no reason to complain of this arrange- 
ment ; but something was wanting to compensate the rich 
for the burdens to Avhich they were subjected. For this 
purpose Servius enacted, that henceforth the comitia should 
give their votes by centuries ; the first class, consisting of 
ninety-eight centuries, always voting first. Thus, though 
the whole people were called to the comitia, and all seemed 
to have an equal suffrage, yet in reality the richer classes 
determined every question, the suffrage of the poor being 
merely nominal ; for as the whole people formed 193 cen- 
turies, and the first and second classes contained 120 of 
these, if they were unanimous, which generally happened in 
questions of importance, a majority was secured. Thus, in 
the comitia centuriata (assemblies in which the people voted by 
centuries), in which the chief magistrates were elected, peace 
and war decreed, and all other important business discussed, 
the richer classes of the citizens- had the sole authority, the 
votes of the poor being of no avail. And such was the ingenuity 
of this policy, that all were pleased with it ; the rich paid 
their taxes with cheerfulness, as the price of their power; 
and the poor gladly exchanged authority for immunities. 
The census, performed every five years, was closed by a lus- 
trum, or expiatory sacrifice ; and hence that period of time 
was called a lustrum. 

18. After a reign of forty-four years, Servius was assas- 
sinated by his infamous daughter Tullia, married to Tar- 
quinius, the grandson of Priscus, who thus paved the way for 
his own elevation to the throne. The government of Tar- 
quin, surnamed the proud, was systematically tyrannical. 
He ingratiated himself with the lower orders, to abase by their 
means the power of the higher; but, insolent, rapacious, and 
cruel, he finally disgusted all ranks of his subjects. His son 
Sextus committed a rape on Lueretia, the wife of Collatinus, 
who, unable to survive her dishonour, stabbed herself in the 
presence of her husband and kindred. This crime roused 
their vengeance, and they procured, by their influence with 



68 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

their countrymen, the expulsion of the tyrant, and the utter 
abolition of the regal dignity at Rome, 509 A. C. 

Reflections on the Government and State of Home during the 

period of the Kings. 

19. The whole structure of the constitution of the Romans 
under the monarchy has been by most authors attributed ex- 
clusively to the abilities of Romulus, a youth of eighteen, the 
leader of a troop of shepherds or banditti. This chimerical 
idea we owe to Dionysius of Haliearnassus. The truth is, 
the Roman government, like almost every other, was the 
gradual result of circumstances; the fruit of time, and of 
political emergency. 

20. The constitution of the Roman senate has occasioned 
considerable research, and is not free from obscurity. It is 
probable that the kings had the sole right of naming the 
senators, that the consuls succeeded them in this right, and 
afterward, when those magistrates found too much occupa- 
tion from the frequent wars in which the state was engaged, 
that this privilege devolved on the censors. The senators 
were at first always chosen from the body of the patricians, 
but afterward the plebeians acquired an equal title to that 
dignity. In the early periods of the republic, the people 
could not be assembled but by the senate's authority; nor 
were the wlcbiscita (decrees of the jieople') of any weight till 
confirmed by their decree. Hence the early constitution of 
the republic was rather aristocratical than demoeraticaL 
From this extensive power of the senate the first diminution 
was made by the creation of the tribunes of the people ; and 
other retrenchments successively took place, till the people 
at length acquired the predominant power in the state. Yet 
the senate, even after every usurpation on their authority, 
continued to have, in many points, a supremacy. They regu- 
lated all matters regarding religion • had the custody of the 
public treasure; superintended the conduct of ?J1 magistrates ; 
gave audience to ambassadors ; decided on the fate of van- 
quished nations; disposed of the governments of the pro- 
vinces ; and took cognizance, by appeal, in all crimes against 



sect. 25. ANCIENT HISTORY. 69 

the state. In great emergencies they appointed a dictator, 
with absolute authority. 

21. At the period of the abolition of the regal govern- 
ment the territory of the Romans was extremely limited. 
The only use which they made of their victories was to na- 
turalize the inhabitants of some of the conquered states, and 
so increase their population. Thus, their strength being 
always superior to their enterprizes, they laid a solid founda- 
tion for the future extension of their empire. 

22. In the accounts given by historians of the strength of 
the armies, both of the Romans in those early times, and of 
the neighbouring states, their enemies, we have every reason 
to believe there is much exaggeration. The territories from 
which those armies were furnished were incapable of supply- 
ing them. 

23. In the continual Avars in which the republic was 
engaged the Romans were most commonly the aggressors. 
The causes of this seem to have been, the ambition of the 
consuls to distinguish their short administration by some 
splendid enterprize, and the wish of the senate to give the 
people occupation, to prevent intestine disquiets. 

24. The regal government subsisted 244 years, and in that 
time only seven kings reigned, several of whom died a violent 
death. These circumstances throw doubt on the authenticity 
of this period of the Roman history. It is allowed that 
there were no historians for the first live centuries after 
the building of Rome. The first is Fabius Pictor, who lived 
during the second Punic war. Livy says that almost all the 
ancient records were destroyed when Rome was taken by the 
Gauls. 



SECTION XXV. 

HOME UNDER THE CONSULS. 

1. The regal government being abolished, it was agreed 
to commit the supreme authority to two magistrates, who 
should be annually elected by the people from the patrician 



70 ANCIENT HISTORY. j» ART j. 

order. To these they gave the name of consules ; " a modest 
title (says Vertot), which gave to understand that they were 
rather the counsellors of the republic than its sovereigns; 
and that the only point which they ought to have in view 
was its preservation and glory." But, in fact, their authority 
differed scarcely in any thing from that of the kings. They 
had the supreme administration of justice, the disposal of the 
public money, the power of convoking the senate and as- 
sembling the people, raising armies, naming all the officers, 
and the right of making peace and war. The only dif- 
ference was, that their authority was limited to a year. 

2. The first consuls were Brutus and Collatinus (the hus- 
band of Lucretia). Tarquin was at this time in Etruria, 
where he induced two of the most powerful cities, Veii and 
Tarquinii, to espouse his cause. He had likewise his parti- 
sans at Rome, and a plot was formed to open the gates to 
receive him. It was detected, and Brutus had the morti- 
fication to find his two sons in the number of the conspira- 
tors. He condemned them to be beheaded in his presence. 
Eocuit patrem, ut consulem agerct; orbusque vivere, quam pub- 
Mem nindictce deesse mahiit. Val. Max. He ceased to be a 

father, that he might execute the dtities of a consul; and chose 
to live childless, rather than to neglect the public punishment of 
a crime. 

3. The consul Valerius, successful in an engagement with 
the exiled Tarquin, was the first Roman who enjoyed the 
splendid reward of a triumph. Arrogant from his recent 
honours, his popularity began to decline ; and, in the view of 
recovering it, he proposed the law, termed from him the 
Talerian, which "permitted any citizen, who had been con- 
demned to death by a magistrate, or even to banishment or 
scourging, to appeal to the people, and required their consent 
previously to the execution of the sentence." This law gave 
the first blow to the aristocracy, in the constitution of the 
Roman republic. 

4. For thirteen years after the expulsion of Tarquin, the 
Romans were involved in continual wars on his account. Of 
these, the most remarkable was the war with the Etrurians 



sect. 25. ANCIENT HISTORY. <y± 

under Porsenaj a war fertile in exploits of romantic he- 
roism. 

5. Soon after this period began those domestic disorders, 
which continued long to embroil the republic. Great complaints 
had arisen among the poorer classes of the citizens, both 
on account of the inequality of property from the partial dis- 
tribution of the conquered lands, which the higher ranks ge- 
nerally contrived to engross to themselves, and from the harsh 
policy, by which it was in the power of creditors to reduce to 
a state of slavery their insolvent debtors. As there was no le- 
gal restraint on usury, the poor, when once reduced to the ne- 
cessity of contracting debts, were left entirely at the mercy of 
their creditors. These grievances, felt in common by a large 
proportion of the citizens, excited much discontent, which, 
from complaints long disregarded, grew at length into a spirit 
of determined resistance. The wars required new levies, and 
the plebeians positively refused to enrol their names, unless 
the senate should put an end to their oppression, by decree- 
ing at once an abolition of all the debts due by the poor to the 
rich. The emergency was critical, as the enemy was at the 
gates of Rome. The consuls found their authority of no avail ; 
for the Valerian law had given any citizen condemned by 
them a right of appeal to the people. An extraordinary mea- 
sure was necessary, and a dictator was created for the first 
time ; a magistrate, who, for the period of six months, was 
invested with absolute and unlimited authority. Lartius, no- 
minated to this high office, armed the twenty-four lietors with 
axe summoned the whole people to the comitia, and, calling 
over the names, under the penalty of death to any citizen who 
should dare to murmur, enrolled all such as he judged most 
fit for the service of their country. This expedient became 
henceforward a frequent and certain resource in all seasons 
of public danger. 

6. The death of Tarquin removed one cheek against the ty- 
ranny of the higher over the lower orders ; for the latter had 
hitherto kept alive a salutary apprehension, that, in case of 
extreme oppression, they would be under the necessity of call- 
ing back their king. When this fear was at an end, the do- 
mineering spirit of the patricians, exceeding every hound both 



72 ANCIENT HISTORY. sari i, 

of good policy and humanity, drove the people at length to 
deeds of mutiny and rebellion. An alarm from the enemy 
gave full weight to their power, and made the chief magis- 
trates of the state solemnly engage their honour to procure 
a redress of their grievances, as soon as the public danger was 
at an end. The promise, either from a failure of will or of 
power, was not fulfilled, and this violation of faith drove the 
people at length to extremities. Bound by their military 
oath not to desert their standards, they carried them along 
with them ; and the whole army, in military array, withdrew 
from Rome, and deliberately encamped on the Mons Sacer, at 
three miles distance from the city ; and here they were soon 
joined by the greater part of the people. This resolute pro- 
cedure had its desired eifect. The senate deputed ten persons, 
the most respectable of their order, with plenary powers; and 
these, seeing no medium of compromise, granted to the peo- 
ple all their demands. The debts were solemnly abolished ; 
and, for the security of their privileges in future, they were 
allowed the right of chusing magistrates of their own order, 
who should have the power of opposing with effect every 
measure which they should judge prejudicial to their inter- 
ests. These were the tribunes of the people, chosen annually ; 
at first five in number, and afterward increased to ten. With- 
out guards or tribunal, and without a seat in the senate-house, 
they had yet the power, by a single veto, to suspend or annul 
the decrees of the senate and the sentences of the consuls, 
Their persons were declared sacred, but their authority was 
confined to the limits of a mile from the city. The tribunes 
demanded and obtained two magistrates to assist them, who 
were termed eediles, from the charge committed to them of 
the buildings of the city. 

7. From this sera (260 years from the foundation of Rome) 
we date the commencement of the popular constitution of the 
Roman republic ; a change operated by the unwise policy of 
the patricians, who, by yielding to just complaints, and hu- 
manely redressing flagrant abuses, might have easily anti- 
cipated every ground of dissatisfaction. The first wish of 
the people was not power, but relief from tyranny and op- 
pression ; and if this had been readily granted them by 



sect. 25. ANCIENT HISTORY. 73 

abolishing the debts, or at least by repressing enormous 
usury, and putting an end to the inhuman right of corporal 
punishment and the bondage of debtors, the people would 
have cheerfully returned to order and submission, and the 
Roman constitution would have long remained aristocratical, 
as we have seen it was at the commencement of the consu- 
lar government. But the plebeians having now obtained 
magistrates of their own order with those high powers, we 
shall see it become the object of those magistrates to increase 
their authority by continual demands and bold encroach- 
ments. The people, regarding them as the champions of 
their rights, are delighted to find themselves gradually ap- 
proaching to a level with the higher order ; | and, no longer 
bounding their desires to ease and security, are soon equally 
influenced by ambition as their superiors. While this peo- 
ple, borne down by injustice, seek no more than the redress 
of real grievances, we sympathize with their feelings, and 
applaud their spirited exertions. But when they had at 
length compassed the end which they wished, obtained ease 
and security, nay, power, which they had neither sought 
nor expected ; when we see them, after this, increasing in 
their demands, assuming that arrogance which they justly 
blamed in their superiors, goaded on by the ambition of their 
leaders to tyrannize in their turn ; we view with proper dis- 
crimination the love of liberty and its extreme licentiousness ; 
and treat with just detestation the authors of those perni- 
cious measures, which embroiled the state in endless faction, 
and paved the way for the total loss of that liberty, of which 
this deluded people knew not the value when they actually 
possessed it. 



SECTION XXVI. 

THE XAW OT VOEEEO. 

1. The disorders of the commonwealth, appeased by the 
creation of the tribunes, were suspended for a time only. It 

K 



7^ ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

was necessary that the popular magistrates should make an 
experiment of their powers. In an assembly of the people, 
one of the consuls, interrupted by a tribune, rashly said, that 
if the tribunes had called that assembly, he would not have 
interrupted them. This was a concession on the part of the 
consuls, that the tribunes had the power of assembling the 
comitia, which, from that moment, they assumed as their 
acknowledged right. It was a consequence of this right, 
that the affairs of the commonwealth should be agitated in 
those meetings, equally as in the assemblies held in virtue of 
a consular summons, or senatorial decree, and thus there were, 
in a manner, two distinct legislative powers established in the 
republic. 

2. The trial of Coriolanus for inconsiderately proposing the 
abolition of the tribunate, an offence interpreted to be treason 
against the state, threw an additional weight into the scale of 
the people. The proposal of an agrarian law, for the division 
of the lands acquired by recent conquests, resumed at in- 
tervals, though never carried into execution, inflamed the 
passions of the rival orders. 

3. Publius Volero, formerly a centurion, and a man dis- 
tinguished for his military services, had been ranked as a 
common soldier in the new levies. Complaining of this 
unmerited degradation, he refused his services, in that 
capacity ; and, the consuls having condemned him to corpo- 
ral punishment, he appealed from their sentence to the peo- 
ple. The contest lasted till the annual term of elections, 
when Yolero was chosen a tribune of the people. He had 
an ample revenge, by procuring the enactment of a most im- 
portant law. The comitia, by centuries and by curiae, could 
he called only in virtue of a decree of the senate, after con- 
sulting the auspices ; and in those comitia the tribunes had 
hitherto been elected, and the most important public affairs 
discussed. It was decreed by the law of Volero, that the 
election of the tribunes should be made, and the chief public 
business henceforward discussed, in the comitia held by 
tribes, which were unfettered by any of those restraints. 
From this period the supreme authority in the Roman repub- 



sect. 27. ANCIENT HISTORY. 75 

lie may be considered as having passed completely from the 
higher order into the hands of the people. The Roman con- 
stitution was now plainly a democracy, 471 A. C 



SECTION XXVII. 

THE DECEMVIRATE. 

1. The Romans had, till this period, no body of civil laws. 
Under the regal government the kings alone administered 
justice ; the consuls succeeded them in this high perogative, 
and thus possessed, without controul, the absolute command 
of the fortunes and civil rights of all the citizens. To 
remedy this great defect Terentillus, a tribune, proposed the 
nomination of ten commissioners, to frame and digest a code 
of laws for the explanation and security of the rights of all 
orders of the state. A measure so equitable ought to have 
met with no opposition. It was, however, strenuously op- 
posed by the patricians, who, by a fruitless contest, only ex- 
posed their own weakness. The decemviri were chosen; 
but the election being made in the comitia by centuries, the 
consul Appius Claudius, with his colleague, were at the head 
of this important commission. The laws were framed, those 
celebrated statutes known by .the name of the Twelve Tables, 
which are the basis of the great structure of the Romau juris- 
prudence, 451 A. C. 

2. An acquaintance with those ancient laws is therefore 
of importance. Even in the most flourishing times of the 
republic they continued to be of the highest authority. They 
have the encomium of Cicero himself; and we learn from 
him, that to commit those laws to memory was an essential 
part of a liberal education. From the twelve tables the 
jurisconsulti composed a system of judicial forms, for the 
regulation of the different tribunals. The number of the laws 
was likewise from time to time increased by the scnatuscon- 
sulta and plebiscita. 

3. The decemvirs were invested with all the powers of 
government, for the consulate had ceased on their creation. 



76 ANCIENT HISTORY. PART t. 

Each decemvir by turn presided for a day, and had the 
sovereign authority, with its insignia, the fasces. The other 
nine officiated solely as judges in the determination of law- 
suits, and the correction of abuses. An abuse, however, of 
the most flagrant nature, committed by the chief of their own 
number, was destined speedily to bring their office to its 
termination. 

4. Appius Claudius, inflamed by lawless passion for the 
young Virginia, the betrothed spouse of Icilius, formerly a 
tribune of the people, employed a profligate dependant to 
claim the maiden as his own property, on the false pretence of 
her being the daughter of one of his female slaves. The claim 
was made to the decemvir himself in judgment, who pro- 
nounced an infamous decree, which tore from her famil\ this 
helpless victim, and put her into the hands of his own minion. 
Her father, to save the honour of his child, plunged a dag- 
ger into her breast ; and the people, witnesses of this shock- 
ing scene, would have massacred Appius on the spot, if he 
had not found means to escape amidst the tumult. Their 
vengeance, however, was satiated by the instant abolition of 
this hated magistracy, and by the death of Appius, who chose 
to prevent, by his own hand, the stroke of the executioner. 
The decemvirate had subsisted for three years. The con- 
suls were now restored, together with the tribunes of the 
people, 449 A. C. 



SECTION XXVIII. 

INCREASE OF THE POPULAR POWER. 

i. The scale of the people was daily acquiring weight, at 
the expence of that of the highest order. Two barriers, 
however, still separated the patricians and plebeians : one, a 
law which prevented their intermarriage, and the other, the 
constitutional limitation of all the higher offices to the order 
of the patricians. It was now only necessary to remove these 
restr ints, and the patricians and plebeians would be on a 
footing of perfect equality. The first, after a long but fruit- 



sect. 28. ANCIENT HISTORY, y«f 

less contest, was at. length ^reed to by the senate ; and this 
concession had its usual effect of stimulating the people to 
inflexible perseverance in their struggle for the latter. Oh 
an emergence of war the customary device was practised, of 
refusing to enter the rolls, unless upon the immediate enact- 
ment of a law, which should admit their capacity of holding 
all the offices of the republic. The senate sought a palliative, 
by the creation of six military tribunes in lieu of the consuls, 
three of whom should be patricians, and three plebeians. This 
measure satisfied the people for a time t the consuls, however, 
were soon restored. 

2. The disorders of the republic, and frequent wars, had 
interrupted the regular survey of the citizens. This was 
remedied by the creation of a new magistracy. Two officers, 
under the title of censors, were appointed (437 A. C), whose 
duty was not only to make the census every five years, but to 
inspect the morals, and regulate the duties of all the citi- 
zens : an office of dignity equal to its importance, exercised,, 
in the latter times of the republic, only by consular ■ ersons, 
and afterward annexed to the supreme function of the em- 
perors. 

3. The dissensions between the orders continued, with 
little variation either in their causes or effects. The peo- 
ple generally, as the last resource, refused to enrol them- 
selves, till overawed by the supreme authority of a dictator. 
To obviate the frequent necessity of this measure, which 
enforced at best an unwilling obedience, the senate had re- 
course to a wise expedient; this was, to give a regular pay 
to the troops. To defray this expence a moderate tax was 
imposed in proportion to the fortunes of the citizens. From 
this period the Roman system of war assumed a new aspect. 
The senate always found soldiers at command ; the army was 
under its controul ,- the enterprises of the republic were 
more extensive, and its successes more signal and important. 
Veii, the proud rival of Rome, and its equal in extent and 
population, was taken by Camillus, after a siege often years 
A. U. C. (anno urbis conditce, in the year of Rome) 396. The 
art of war was improved, as it now became a profession, 
instead of an occasional occupation. The Romans were, 



78 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

from this circumstance, an overmatch for all their neigh- 
bours. Their dominion, hitherto confined to the territory of 
a few miles, was now rapidly extended. It was impossible 
that the detached states of Italy must not have given way 
before a people who were always in arms, and, by a per- 
severance alike resolute and judicious, were equal to every 
attempt in which they engaged. 

4. The taking of Veii Avas succeeded by a war with the 
Gauls. This people, a branch of the great nation of the 
CelCfe, had opened to themselves a passage though the Alps 
at four different periods, and were at this time established in 
the country between those mountains and the Appenines. 
Under the command of Brennus they laid siege to the Etrus- 
can Clusium ; and the people, of no warlike turn themselves, 
solicited the aid of the Romans. The circumstances recorded 
of this war with the Gauls throw over it a cloud of fable and 
romance. Th« formidable power of Rome is said to have 
been, in a single campaign, so utterly exhausted, that the 
Gauls entered the city without resistance, and burnt it to 
the ground, 385 A. C. Though thus overpowered, the Ro- 
mans, in a single engagement, retrieve all their losses, and 
in one day's time there is not a Gaul left within the Roman 
territory. 

To the burning of the city by the Gauls the Roman writers 
attribute the loss of all the records and monuments of their 
early history. 

5. It is singular, that most of the Roman revolutions 
should have owed their origin to women. From this cause 
we have seen spring the abolition of the regal office and the 
deeemvirate. From this cause arose the change of the 
constitution, by which the plebeians became capable of hold- 
ing the highest offices of the commonwealth. The younger 
daughter of Fabius Ambustus, married to a plebeian, envious 
of the honours of her elder sister, the wife of a patrician, 
stimulated her father to rouse the lower order to a resolute 
purpose of asserting their equal right with the patricians to 
all the offices and dignities of the state. After much turbu- 
lence and contest the final issue was, the admission of the 
plebeians, first to the consulate, and afterward to the cen- 



sect. 29; ANCIENT HISTORY 79 

sorship, the prselorship, aw? priesthood, A. U. C. 454, and 
A. C. 300 : a change benefica? in th j main, as consolidating 
the strength of the republic, and catting off the principal 
source of intestine disorder. The factions of the state had 
hitherto confined the growth of its power, its splendour, and 
prosperity ; for no state can at once be prosperous and 
anarchical. We shall now mark the rapid elevation of the 
Roman name and empire. 



SECTION XXIX. 

CONQUEST OF ITALY BY THE ROMANS. 

1. The war with the Samnites now began, and was of long 
continuance; but its successful termination was speedily fol- 
lowed by the reduction of all the states of Italy. In the course 
of this important war the Tarentines, the allies of the Sam- 
nites, sought the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, one of the 
greatest generals of his age. Pyrrhus landed in Italy with 
30000 men, and a train of elephants, 280 A. C. He was at 
first successful, but no longer so than till a short experience 
reconciled the Romans to a new mode of war. Sensible at 
length of the difficulties of his enterprise, and dreading a 
fatal issue, he embraced an invitation from the Sicilians to 
aid them in a war with Carthage. On this pretext, which at 
least was not dishonourable, Pyrrhus withdrew his troops 
from Italy. In this interval the Romans reduced to extremity 
the Samnites, the Tarentines, and the other allied states. 
Pyrrhus returned, and made a last effort near Beneventum. 
He was totally defeated, lost 26000 men, and, abandoning at 
once all further views to Italy, returned with precipitation to 
his own dominions, 274 A. C. The hostile states submitted to 
the victorious power; and Rome, 480 years from the founda- 
tion of the city, was now mistress of all Italy. 

2. The policy observed by the Romans, with respect to the 
conquered nations, was wise and judicious. They removed 
to Rome all the leading men of the principal conquered cities, 
admitting them into the ancient urban and rustic tribes, and 



80 ANCIENT HISTORY. *akt 2. 

thus soothing the pride of the vanquished, by giving them an 
apparent share in their own domestic government ; while, in 
arranging the constitution of the cities, they filled their ma- 
gistracies with illustrious Romans, whose abilities and influ- 
ence Mere fitted to maintain those new provinces in allegiance 
to the Roman government. 

3. Sicily had long been considered the granary of Italy. 
The Carthaginians at this time possessed considerable settle- 
ments in the island, and were ambitious of acquiring its entire 
dominion. An obvious policy led the Romans to dispute with 
them this important acquisition, and gave rise to the Punic 
wars. This leads, by a natural connection, to a short view 
of the history of Carthage and of Sicily, 



SECTION XXX. 

HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. - 

1. According to the most probable accounts, Carthage was 
founded by a colony of Tyrians, about seventy years before 
the building of Rome. The colony had the same language, 
the same or nearly similar laws and constitution, the same 
national character, with the parent state. The city of Car- 
thage was, at the period of the Punic wars, one of the most 
splendid in the world, and had under its dominion 300 of the 
smaller cities of Africa bordering on the Mediterranean sea. 

2. The constitution of the republic is celebrated by Aristo- 
tle as one of the most perfect of the governments of antiquity; 
but we know little more than its general nature from ancient 
writers. Two magistrates, named suffetes, annually chosen, 
seem to have possessed powers akin to those of the Roman 
consuls ; and the Carthaginian senate to those of the senate 
of Rome ; with this remarkable difference, that, in the form- 
er, unanimity of opinion was requisite in all measures of im- 
portance. A divided senate transmitted the business to the 
assembly of the people. A tribunal of 104 judges took cog- 
nizance of military operations, and of the conduct of their 
generals. A superior council of five seems to have controulecl 



sect. 31. ANCIENT HISTORY. S| 

the decisions of the larger tribunal. Two peculiarities of the 
Carthaginian policy have been censured by Aristotle. One 
peculiarity was, that the same person might hold several 
employments or offices in the state; the other, that the poor 
were debarred from all offices of trust or importance. But 
the former of these is frequently both expedient and neces- 
sary, and the latter seems agreeable to the soundest policy ; 
for in offices of trust poverty offers too powerful an incite- 
ment to deviation from duty. 

3. The first settlements made by the Carthaginians were 
entirely in the way of commerce. Trading to the coast of 
Spain for gold, they built Carthagena and Gades : and coast- 
ing along the western shore of Africa, they had establish- 
ments for the same purpose as far as the 25th degree of north 
latitude. The Periylus of Hanno affords a proof of ardent 
enterprize and policy. Desirous of extending a limited terri- 
tory, they armed against the Mauritanians, Numidians, and 
all the neighbouring nations ; employing mercenary troops, 
which they levied, not only in Africa, but in Spain, the two 
Gauls, and Greece. 

4. The annals of the Carthaginian state are little known 
till their wars with the Romans. The first of their wars 
mentioned in history is that with the Greek colonies of 
Sicily. Darius courted their alliance when he meditated the 
conquest of Greece; and Xerxes renewed that treaty when 
lie followed out the designs of his father. 



SECTION XXXI. 

HISTO&Y OF SICII.Y. 

1. The early periods of the history of Sicily are as little 
known as those of Carthage. The Phoenicians had sent 
colonies to Sicily before the Trojan war. The Greeks, in 
after times, made considerable settlements in the island. 
The Corinthians founded Syracuse, which became the most 
illustrious of the Greek cities of Sicily; and from Syracuse 

i 



482 ANCIENT HISTORY. part s. 

arose afterward Agrigentum, Aera, Casinene, Camarene, and 
several other Sicilian towns. 

2. The government of Syracuse was monarchical, and 
might have long remained so, if all its sovereigns had in- 
herited the abilities and virtues of Gelon. But his succes- 
sors, exercising the worst of tyranny, compelled their sub- 
jects at length to abolish the regal government ; and 
their example was speedily followed by all the Grecian states 
of Sicily. 

3. The monarchy of Syracuse, however, was revived about 
sixty years after in the person of Dionysius, a man of ob- 
scure origin, but of signal ability. Twice expelled for a 
tyrannical exercise of dominion, he as often found means to 
overpower his enemies, and re-establish himself in the 
throne. At his death the crown passed, without opposition, 
to his son, Dionysius the younger, a weak and capricious 
tyrant, whom his subjects judging unworthy to reign, de- 
throned and banished, 357 A. C. The crown was conferred 
on Dion, his brother-in-law, whose amiable character ren- 
dered him the delight of his peoole. But after a short reign 
this prince fell a victim to treason. Aided by the distrac- 
tions of Syracuse consequent on this event, Dionysius re- 
mounted the throne ten years after his expulsion ; but his 
tyrannical disposition, heightened by his misfortunes, became 
at length so intolerable, that he was expelled a second time, 
and banished to Corinth, where he ended his days in poverty 
and obscurity. The author of this revolution was the 
illustrious Timoleon, to whose abilities and virtues his coun- 
try owed equally its liberty and its subsequent happiness and 
prosperity, 343 A. C. 

The signal opposition of national character between the 
Romans and the Carthaginians may be easily explained, 
when we attend to the effects of a commercial life on the 
genius and manners of a nation. The vices of a commercial 
people are selfishness, cunning, avarice, with an absence of 
every heroic and patriotic virtue. The favourable effects of 
commerce are industry, frugality, general courtesy of man- 
ners, improvement in the useful arts. Attending to these 



sect. 32 ANCIENT HISTORY. 83 

consequences of the prevalence of the commercial spirit, we 
shall see the principal features of the Carthaginian character 
opposed to the Roman. 



SECTION XXXII. 

THE PUNIC WARS. 

1. The triumph which the Romans had obtained over 
Pyrrhus seemed to give assurance of success in any enter- 
prize in which they should engage. The Mamertines, a 
people of Campania, obtained aid from the Romans in an 
unjustifiable attempt which they made to seize Messina, a 
Sicilian town allied to Syracuse. The Syracusans, at first 
assisted by the Carthaginians, opposed this invasion ; but the 
former, more alarmed by the ambitious encroachments of 
the Carthaginians on .Sicily, soon repented of this rash 
alliance, and joined the Romans in the purpose of expel- 
ling the Carthaginians entirely from the island. In fact 
the Sicilians seem to have had only the desperate choice 
of final submission either to Rome or Carthage. They 
chose the former, as the alternative least dishonourable. The 
Romans had ever been their friends, the Carthaginians their 
enemies. 

3. Agrigentum, possessed by the Carthaginians, was taken", 
after a long siege, by the joint forces of Rome and Syracuse. 
A Roman fleet, the first which they ever had, was equipped 
in a few weeks, and gained a complete victory over that of 
Carthage, at this time the greatest maritime power in the 
world, 260 A. C. These successes were followed by the 
reduction of Corsica and Sardinia. In a second naval engage- 
ment the Romans took from the Carthaginians sixty of their 
ships of war, and now resolutely prepared for the invasion 
of Africa. The consul Regulus commanded the expedition. 
He advanced to the gates of Carthage; and such was the 
general consternation that the enemy proposed a capitula- 
tion. Inspirited, however, by a timely aid of Greek troops 
under Xantippus, the Carthaginians made a desperate effort^ 



S4 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

and, defeating the Roman army, made Regulus prisoner. 
But, repeatedly defeated in Sicily, they Avere at length seri- 
oursly desirous of a peace ; and the Roman general was sent 
with their ambassadors to Rome to aid the negociation, 
under a solemn oath to return to Carthage as a prisoner, if 
the treaty should fail. It was rejected at the urgent desire 
of Regulus, who thus sacrificed his life to what he judged the 
interest of his country. 

3. Lilyboeum, the strongest of the Sicilian towns belong- 
ing to Carthage, was taken after a siege of nine years. Af- 
ter some alternate successes, two naval battles won by the 
Romans terminated the war, and Carthage at last obtained 
a peace on the humiliating terms of abandoning to the Ro- 
mans all her possessions in Sicily, the payment of 3200 ta- 
lents of silver, the restitution of all prisoners without ransom, 
and a solemn engagement never to make war against Syra- 
cuse or her allies. The island of Sicily was now declared a 
Roman province, though Syracuse maintained its independent 
government, A. U. C. 511, and A. C. 2*1. 

4. The peace between Rome and Carthage was of twenty- 
three years duration. The latter power was recruiting its 
strength, and meditated to revenge its losses and disgrace. 
The second Punic war began on the part of the Carthagini- 
ans, who besieged Saguntum, a city of Spain in alliance with 
the Romans. The young Hannibal took Saguntum after a 
siege of seven months; the desperate inhabitants setting fire 
to the town, and perishing amidst the flames. Hannibal now 
formed the bold design of carrying the war into Italy. He 
provided against every difficulty, gained to his interest a part 
of the Gallic tribes, passed the Pyrenees, and finally the 
Alps*, in a toilsome march of five months and a half from 
his leaving Carthagena ; and arrived in Italy with 20000 foot 
and 6000 horse. 

* The passage of Hannibal over the Alps has been lately illustrated, in a 
a most learned and ingenious essay, by Mr. Whitaker (the celebrated historian 
of Manchester, and vindicator of Queen Mary), who has, with great acuteness, 
traced every step of the Carthaginian general, from his crossing the Rhone to 
Ms final arrival in Italy. 



sect. 32. ANCIENT HISTORY. 85 

5. In the first engagement the Romans were defeated. 
They also lost two other important battles at Trebia, and the 
lake Thrasymenas. In the latter of these the consul Flami- 
nius was killed, and his army cut to pieces, Hannibal ad- 
vanced to Cannse in Apulia, where the Romans opposed him 
with their whole force. A memorable defeat ensued, in which 
40000 Romans were left dead upon the field, and among these 
the consul iEinilius, and almost the whole body of the knights. 
If Hannibal had taken advantage of this great victory, by in- 
stantly attacking Rome, the fate of the republic Avould have 
been inevitable ; but he deliberated, and the occasion was 
lost. The Romans now concentrated all their strength. Even 
the slaves armed in the common cause, and victory once more 
attended the standards of the republic. Philip, king of Mace- 
don, joined his forces to the Carthaginians, but, defeated by 
Levinus, speedily withdrew his assistance. Hannibal retreat- 
ed before the brave Marcellus. Syracuse had now taken part 
with Carthage, and thus paved the way for the loss of its own 
liberty. Marcellus besieged the city, which was long defend- 
ed by the inventive genius of Archimedes ,- but was taken in 
the third year by escalade in the night. This event put an 
end to the kingdom of Syracuse, which now became a part of 
the Roman province of Sicily, A. U. C. 542, A. C. 212. 

6. While the war in Italy was prosperously conducted by 
the great Fabius, who, by constantly avoiding a general en- 
gagement, found the true method of weakening his enemy, the 
young&r Scipio accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. 
Asdrubal was sent into Italy to the aid of his brother Hanni- 
bal, but was defeated by the consul Claudius, and slain in bat- 
tle. Scipio, triumphant in Spain, passed over into Africa, 
and carried havoc and devastation to the gates of Carthage. 
Alarmed for the fate of their empire, the Carthaginians has- 
tily recalled Hannibal from Italy. The battle of Zama deci- 
ded the fate of the war, by the utter defeat of the Cartha- 
ginians. They entreated a peace, which the Romans granted 
on these conditions : that the Carthaginians should abandon 
Spain, Sicily, and all the islands ,• surrender all their prison- 
ers, give up the whole of their fleet except ten gallies, pay 






gg ANCIENT HISTORY. part s 

10000 talents, and, in future, undertake no war without con- 
sent of the Romans, A. U. C. 552, A. C. 202. 

7. Every thing now concurred to swell the pride of the 
conquerors, and to extend their dominion. A war with Philip 
of Macedon was terminated by his defeat ; and his son De- 
metrius was sent to Rome as a hostage for the payment of a 
heavy tribute imposed on the vanquished. A war with Antio- 
chus, king of Syria, ended in his ceding to the Romans 
the whole of the Lesser Asia. But these splendid con- 
quests, while they enlarged the empire, were fatal to its vir- 
tues, and subversive of the pure and venerable simplicity of 
ancient times. 

8. The third Punic war began A. U. C. 605, A. C. 149, and 
ended in the ruin of Carthage. An unsuccessful war with 
the Numidians had reduced the Carthaginians to great weak- 
ness, and the Romans meanly laid hold of that opportu- 
nity to invade Africa. Conscious of their utter inability 
to resist this formidable power, the Carthaginians offered 
every submission, and consented even to acknowledge them- 
selves the subjects of Rome. The Romans demanded 300 
hostages, for the strict performance of every condition that 
should be enjoined by the senate. The hostages were given, 
and the condition required was, that Carthage itself should 
he razed to its foundation. Despair gave courage to this 
miserable people, and they determined to die in the defence 
of their native city. Rut the noble effort was in vain. Car- 
thage was taken by storm, and burnt to the ground, and its 
inhabitants were massacred, A. U. C. 607, A. C, 146. 

9. The same year was signalized by the entire reduction 
of Greece under the dominion of the Romans. This was 
the fera of the dawn of luxury and taste at Rome, the na- 
tural fruit of foreign wealth, and an acquaintance with foreign 
manners. In the unequal distribution of this imported wealth, 
in the vices to which it gave rise, in the corruption and 
venality of which it became the instrument, we see the remo- 
ter causes of those fatal disorders, to which the republic owed 
its dissolution. 



sicx. 33: ANCIENT HISTORY. 87 

SECTION XXXIII. 

THE GRACCHI, AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE 
COMMONWEALTH. 

1. At this period arose Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, two 
noble youths, whose zeal to reform the growing corruptions 
of the state precipitated them at length into measures de- 
structive of all government and social order. Tiberius, the 
elder of the brothers, urged the people to assert by force the 
revival of an ancient law for limiting property in land, and 
thus abridging the overgrown estates of the patricians. 
A tumult was the consequence, in which Tiberius, with 300 
of his friends, were killed in the forum. This fatal example 
did not deter his brother, Caius Gracchus, from pursuing a 
similar career of zeal or of ambition. After some successful 
experiments of his power, while in the office of tribune, he 
directed his scrutiny into the corruptions of the senate, and 
prevailed in depriving that body of its constitutional controul 
over all the inferior magistrates of the state. Employing, 
like his brother, the dangerous engine of tumultuary force, 
he fell a victim to it himself, with 3000 of his partizans, who 
were slaughtered in the streets of Borne. The tumults at- 
tending the sedition of the Gracchi were the prelude to 
those civil disorders, which now followed in quick succession 
to the end of the commonwealth. 

2. The circumstances attending the war with Jugurtha 
gave decisive proof of the corruption of the Roman manners, 
Jugurtha, grandson of Masinissa, sought to usurp the crown 
of Numidia by destroying his cousins, Hiempsal and Adher- 
bal, the sons of the last king. He murdered the elder of the 
brothers. The younger applying for aid to Rome, Jugurtha 
bribed the senate, who declared him innocent of ail culpable 
act or design, and decreed to him the sovereignty of half the 
kingdom. This operated only as an incentive to his criminal 
ambition. He declared open war against his cousin, besieged 
him in his capital of Cirta, and finally put him to death. To 



g8 ANCIENT HISTORY. pahi-i. 

avert a threatened war Jugurtha went in person to Rome, 
pleaded his own cause in the senate, and once more by bribery 
secured his acquittal from all charge of criminality. A per- 
severence, however, in a simlar train of conduct finally drew 
on him the vengeance of the Romans. Being betrayed into 
their hands by his own father-in-law, he was brought in 
chains to Rome, to grace the triumph of the consul Marius, 
confined to a dungeon, and starved to death, A. U. C. 651, 
A. C. 103. 

3. The ambition of the allied states of Italy to attain the 
rights of citizenship produced the social war, which ended 
in a concession of those rights to such of the confederates 
as should return peaceably to their allegiance. This war 
with the allies was a prelude to that which followed between 
Rome and her own citizens. Sylla and Marius, rivals, and 
thence enemies, were at this time the leaders of the repub- 
lic. Sylla, commanding in a war against Mithridates, was 
superseded, and recalled from Asia. He refused to obey 
the mandate, and found his army well disposed to support 
him. " Let us march to Rome," said they, with one voice ; 
f ' lead us on to avenge the cause of oppressed liberty." Sylla 
accordingly led them on, and they entered Rome sword in 
hand. Marius and his partizans fled with precipitation from 
the city, and Sylla ruled for a while triumphant. But the 
faction of his rival soon recovered strength. Marius, re- 
turning to Italy, and joining his forces to those of Cinna, 
his zealous partizan, laid siege to Rome, and while Sylla 
was engaged in the Mithridatic war, compelled the city to 
absolute submission. After a horrible massacre of all whom 
they deemed their enemies, Marius and Cinna proclaimed 
themselves consuls, without the formality of an election ; but 
Marius died a few days after in a fit of debauch. 

4. After a victorious campaign in Asia, Sylla returned to 
Italy, and, joined by Cethegus, Verres, and the young Pom- 
pey, gave battle to the party of his enemies, and entirely- 
defeated them. His entry into Rome was signalized by a 
dreadful massacre, and a proscription, which had for its ob- 
ject the extermination of every enemy whom he had in Italy. 
Elected dictator for an unlimited time, he was now without 



sect. 33. ANCIENT HISTORY, §9 

a rival in authority, and absolute master of the government, 
which, of course, was no longer a republic. In the exercise 
of his dominion he deserved more praise than in the means 
of acquiring it. He restored the senate to its judicial 
authority, regulated the election to all the important offices 
of state, and enacted many excellent laws against oppression 
and the abuse of power. Finally, he gave demonstration, if 
not of a pure conscience, at least of a magnanimous intrepidity 
of character, by voluntarily resigning all command, retiring 
to the condition of a private citizen, and offering publicly to 
give an account of his conduct. He died within a short time 
after his resignation. He was certainly a man of great 
strength of mind, and had some of the qualities of a heroic 
character ; but he lived in evil times, when it was impossible 
at once to be great and to be virtuous. 

5. The death of Syila renewed the civil war. Lepidus, a 
man of no abilities, aspired to succeed him in power; and 
Pompey, with superior talents, cherished the same ambition. 
While the latter was employed in the reduction of the revolt- 
ed provinces of Asia, the conspiracy of Catiline threatened 
the entire destruction of Rome. It was extinguished by the 
provident zeal and active patriotism of the consul Cicero. 
Catiline and his chief accomplices, making a small army, 
were attacked in the field and defeated by Antonius. The 
traitor made a desperate defence, and was killed in battle, a 
better death than his crimes demanded. 

6. Julius Caesar now rose into public notice. Sylla dreaded 
his abilities and ambition, arid bad numbered him among the 
proscribed. " There is many a Marius," said he, " in the per- 
son of that young man." He had learned prudence from the 
danger of his situation, and tacitly courted popularity, without 
that show of entcrprize which gives alarm to a rival. While 
Pompey and Crassus contended for the eo amand of the repub- 
lic, Cjesar, who knew that, by attaching himself to either rival, 
he should infallibly make the other his enemy, showed the 
reach of his talents by reconciling them, and thus acquiring 
the friendship of both. From favour to their mutual friend 
they agreed to a partition of power; and thus was formed 

M 



90 ANCIENT HISTORY. part t 

the first triumvirate. Csesar was elected consul. He in- 
creased his popularity by a division of lands among the poorer 
citizens, and strengthened his interest with Pompey hy giv- 
ing him his daughter in marriage. He had the command 
of four legions, and the government of transalpine Gaul and 
Illyria. 

7. The military glory of the republic, and the reputation 
of Cresar, were nobly sustained in Gaul. In the first year 
of his government he subdued the Helvetii, who had left their 
own country, and attempted to settle in the better regions of 
the Roman province. He totally defeated the Germans under 
Ariovistus, who had attempted a similar invasion. The 
Belgffi, the Nervii, the Celtic Gauls, the Suevi, Menapii, and 
other warlike nations, were all successively brought under 
subjection. In the fourth year of his government he trans- 
ported his army into Britain. Landing at Deal, he was op- 
posed hy the natives with equal courage and military skill. 
He gained, however, several advantages, and, binding the 
Britons to submission, withdrew into Gaul on the approach 
of winter. He returned in the following summer with a 
greater force, and, prosecuting his victories, reduced a con- 
siderable portion of the island under the Roman dominion, 
A.'C. 5k But the pressure of affairs in Italy suspended for 
a time the progress of the Roman arms in Britain. 

8. Csesar dreaded the abilities of Cicero, who had opposed 
him in his views of ambition. By the machinations of his 
partizans, while he was absent in Gaul, lie procured the 
banishment of Cicero, and the confiscation of his estates, on 
the pretence of illegal measures pursued in the suppression 
of the conspiracy of Catiline. During an exile of sixteen 
months in Greece, Cicero gave way to a despondency of mind 
utterly unworthy of the philosopher. Pompey had aban- 
doned him, and this ungrateful desertion bore heavily upon 
his mind. In the wane of his reputation, Pompey became 
desirous to prop his own sinking fortunes by the abilities of 
Cicero, and eagerly promoted his recal from exile. The death 
of Crassus, in an expedition against the Parthians, now r dis- 
solved the triumvirate ; and Csesar and Pompey, whose union 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 



had no other bond than interest, began each to conceive 
separately the view of undivided dominion. 



SECTION XXXIV. 

PROGRESS OF THE CIVIL WARS. SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 
TALE OE THE REPUBLIC. 

1. The ambition of Csesar and of Poinpey had now evidently 
the same object ; and it seemed to be the only question, in 
those degenerate times, to which of those aspiring leaders 
the republic should surrender its liberties. The term of 
Csesar's government was near its limit. To secure himself 
against a deprivation of power, he procured a proposal to be 
made in the senate by one of his partizans, which wore the 
appearance of great moderation, namely, that Csesar and 
Fompey should either both continue in their governments, or 
both be deprived of them, as they were equally capable of 
endangering the public liberty by an abuse of power. The 
motion passed, and Csesar immediately offered to resign, on 
condition that his rival should also resign ,■ but Pompey re- 
jected the accommodation. The term of his government had 
jet several years' duration, and he suspected the proposal to 
be a snare laid for him by Csesar. He resolved to maintain 
his right by force of arms, and a civil war was the necessary 
consequence. The consuls and a great part of the senate 
were the friends of Pompey. Csesar had on his side a vic- 
torious army, consisting of ten legions, and the body of the 
Roman citizens, whom he had won by his liberality. Mark 
Antony and Cassius, at that time tribunes of the people, left 
Rome, and repaired to Csesar's camp. 

2. The senate, apprehensive of his designs, pronounced a 
decree, branding with the crime of parricide any commander 
who should dare to pass the Rubicon (the boundary between 
Italy and the Gauls) with a single cohort, without their per- 
mission. Csesar inf pinged the prohibition, and marched 
straight to Rome. Pompey, to whom the senate committed 
the defence of the state, had no army. He quitted Rome, 



§3 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

followed by the consuls and a part of the senate, and endea- 
voured hastily to levy troops over all Italy and Greece ; while 
Csesar triumphantly entered the city amidst the acclamations 
of the people, seized the public treasury, and possessed him- 
self of the supreme authority without opposition. Having 
secured the capital of the empire, he set out to take the field 
against his enemies. The lieutenants of Pompey had posses- 
sion of Spain. Csesar marched thither, and subdued the 
whole country in the space of forty days. He returned victori- 
ous to Home, where, in his absence, he had been nominated 
dictator. In the succeeding election of magistrates he was 
chosen consul, and was thus invested, by a double title, with 
the right of acting in the name of the republic. Pompey had 
by this time raised a numerous army, and Csesar was anxious 
to bring him to a decisive engagement. The two armies met 
in lllyria, and the first conflict was of doubtful issue. Cse- 
sar led his army into Macedonia, where he found a large rein- 
forcement. He gave battle to Pompey in the plain of Phar- 
salia, and entirely defeated him. Fifteen thousand of Pom- 
pej's army were slain, and 2*000 surrendered themselves 
prisoners to the victor, A. U. C. 705, A. C. 49. 

3. The fate of Pompey was miserable in the extreme. With 
Ms wife Cornelia, the companion of his misfortunes, he fled 
into Egypt in a single ship, trusting to the protection of 
Ptolemy, whose father had owed to him his settlement on the 
throne. But the ministers of this young prince, dreading 
the power of Csesar, basely courted his favour by the murder 
of his rival. Pompey was brought ashore in a small boat by 
the guards of the king ; and a Roman centurion, who had 
fought under his banners, stabbed, him, even in the sight of 
Cornelia, cut off his head, and left the body naked on the 
sands. Csesar pursued Pompey to Alexandria, where the 
head of that unhappy man, presented as a grateful offering, 
gave him the first intelligence of his fate. He wept, and 
turned with horror from the sight. He caused every honour 
to be paid to his memory, and from that time showed the ut- 
most beneficence to the partizans of his unfortunate rival. 

4. The sovereignty of .Egypt was in dispute between Ptole- 
my and his sister Cleopatra, The latter, though married to 



sect. 34. ANCIENT HISTORY 93 

her brother, and joint heir by her father's will, was ambiti- 
ous of undivided authority ; and Csesar, captivated by her 
charms, decided the contest in favour of the beauteous queen. 
A war ensued, in which Ptolemy was killed, and Kgypt sub- 
dued by the Roman arms. In this war the famous library of 
Alexandria Avas burnt to ashes, A. C. 48. A revolt of the 
Asiatic provinces, under Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, 
was signally chastised ; and the report was conveyed by Cse- 
sar to the Roman senate in three words, Veni, villi, vici. The 
conqueror returned to Rome, which needed his presence ; for 
Italy was divided, and the partizans of Pompey were yet ex- 
tremely formidable. His two sons, withCato and Scipio, were 
inarms in Africa. Csesarpursued them thither, and, proceeding 
with caution till secure of his advantage, defeated them in a 
decisive engagement at Thapsus. Scipio perished in his pas- 
sage to Spain. Cato, shutting himself up in Utica, meditated 
a brave resistance ; but seeing no hope of success, he finally 
determined not to survive the liberties of his country, and 
fell deliberately by his own hand. Mauritania was now added 
to the number of the Roman provinces ; and Caesar returned 
to Rome, absolute master of the empire. 

5. From that moment his attention was directed solely to 
the prosperity and happiness of the Roman people. He re- 
membered no longer that there had been opposite parties ; 
beneficent alike to the friends of Pompey as to his own. He 
laboured to reform every species of abuse or grievance. 
He introduced order into every department of the state, de- 
lining the separate rights of all its magistrates, and extend- 
ing his care to the regulation of its most distant provinces. 
The reformation of the kalendar, the draining of the marshes 
of Italy, the navigation of the Tiber, the embellishment of 
Rome, the complete survey and delineation of the empire, al- 
ternately employed his liberal and capacious mind. Return- 
ing from the final overthrow of Poinpey's party in Spain, he 
was hailed the father of his country, was created consul for 
ten years, and perpetual dictator. His person was declared 
sacred, his title henceforth imjierator, A. IT. C. 709, A. C. 
45. 



9J, ANCIENT HISTORY. part I. 

6. The Roman republic had thus finally resigned its liber- 
ties by its own acts. They were not extinguished, as Mon- 
tesqieu has well remarked, by the ambition of a Pompey or 
of a Csesar. If the sentiments of Csesar and Pompey had been 
the same with those of Cato, others would have had the same 
ambitious thoughts; and, since the commonwealth was fated 
to fall, there never would have been wanting a hand to drag 
it to destruction. Yet Csesar had by force subdued his coun- 
try ; and therefore was a usurper. If it had been possible to 
restore the liberties of the republic, and with these its happi- 
ness, by the suppression of his usurpation, the attempt would 
have merited the praise at least of good design. Perhaps so 
thought his murderers; and thus, however weak their policy, 
however base and treacherous their act, they will ever find 
apologists. They expected an impossible issue, as the event 
demonstrated. 

7. A conspiracy was formed by sixty of the senators, at 
the head of whom were Brutus and Cassius ; the former a 
man beloved of Ceesar, who had saved his life, and heaped 
upon him numberless benefits. It was rumoured that the dic- 
tator wished to add to his numerous titles that of king, and 
that the ides of March was fixed on for investing him with 
the diadem. On that day, when taking his seat in the senate- 
house, he was suddenly assailed by the conspirators. He de- 
fended himself for some time against their daggers, till, see- 
ing Brutus among the number, he faintly exclaimed, "And 
you, too, my son !" then covering his face with his robe he 
resigned himself to his fate. He fell, pierced by twenty-three 
wounds, A. U. C. 711, and A. C. 43. 

8. The Roman people were struck with horror at the atro- 
cious deed. They loved Csesar master as he was of their lives 
and liberties. Mark Antony and Lepidus, ambitious of suc- 
ceeding to the power of the dictator, resolved to pave the 
way by avenging his death. Cresar, by his testament, had 
bequeathed a great part of his fortune to the people ; and they 
were penetrated with gratitude to his memory. A public ha- 
rangue delivered by Antony over the bleeding body, exposed 
in the forum, inflamed them with the utmost indignation 
against his murderers, who must have met with instant de- 



sect. 34. ANCIENT HISTORY. 95 

struetion if they had not escaped with precipitation from the 
city. Antony profited by these dispositions ; and the avenger 
of CEesar, of course the favorite of the people, was in the im- 
mediate prospect of attaining a similar height of dominion. 
In this ambitious design he found a formidable competitor in 
Oetavius, the grand-nephew and the adopted heir of Csesar, 
who, at this critical moment, arrived in Rome. Availing him- 
self of these titles, Oetavius gained the senate to his interest, 
and divided with Antony the favour of the people. The ri- 
vals soon perceived that it was their wisest plan to unite 
their interests ; and they admitted Lepidus into their asso- 
ciation, whose power, as governor of Gaul, and immense 
riches, gave him a title to a share of authority. Thus was 
formed the second triumvirate, the effects of whose union 
were beyond measure dreadful to the republic. The trium- 
viri divided among themselves the provinces, and cemented 
their union by a deliberate sacrifice made by each of his best 
friends to the vengeance of his associates. Antony consigned 
to death his uncle Lucius ; Lepidus his brother Paulus ; and 
Oetavius his guardian Toranius, and his friend Cicero. In 
this horrible proscription 300 senators and 3000 knights were 
put'to death. 

9. Oetavius and Antony now marched against the conspi- 
rators, who had a formidable army in the field in Thrace, 
commanded by Brutus and Cassius. An engagement ensued 
at Philippi, which decided the fate of the empire. Antony 
obtained the victory, for Oetavius had no military talents. 
He was destitute even of personal bravery; and his conduct 
after the victory was stained with that cruelty which is ever 
the attendant of cowardice. Brutus and Cassius escaped the 
vengeance of their enemies by a voluntary death. Antony now 
sought a recompence for his troops by the plunder of the 
east. While in Cilicia he summoned Cleopatra to answer for 
her conduct in dethroning an infant brother, and in openly 
favouring the party of Brutus and Cassius. The queen came 

tto Tarsus, and made a complete conquest of the triumvir. 
Immersed in luxury, and intoxicated with love, he forgot glo- 
ry, ambition, fame, and every thing, for Cleopatra. Oetavius 
saw this phreuzy with delight, as the preparative of his ri- 



gg ANCIENT HISTORY. part t 

vaPs ruin. He had nothing to dread from Lepidus, whose in- 
significant character first drew on him the contempt of his 
partizans ; and whose folly, in attempting an invasion of the 
province of his colleague, was punished by his deposition and 
banishment. 

10. Antony had in his madness lavished the provinces of 
the empire in gifts to his paramour and her children. The 
Soman people were justly indignant at those enormities; and 
the divorce of his wife Oetavia, the sister of his colleague, 
was at length the signal of declared hostility between them. 
An immense armament, chiefly naval, came at length to a de- 
cisive conflict near Aeliusn, on the coast of Epirus. Cleopa- 
tra, who attended her lover, deserted him with her galleys in 
the heat of the engagement ; and such was the infatuation of 
Antony, that he abandoned his fleet, and followed her. After 
a contest of some hours, the fleet of Antonv yielded to that of 
Octavius, A. U. C. 723, A. C. 31. The victor pursued the 
fugitives to Egypt ; and the base Cleopatra offered terms to 
Octavius, including the surrender of her Jdngdom, and the 
abandonment of Antony. After an unsuccessful attempt at 
resistance, Antony anticipated his fate by falling on his 
sword. Cleopatra soon after, either from remorse, or more 
probably from mortified ambition, as she found it was Octa- 
vius's design to lead her in chains to Rome, to grace his tri- 
umph, had courage to follow the example of her lover, and 
put herself to death by the poison of an asp. Octavius re- 
turned to Rome, sole master of the Roman empire, A. U. C. 
727, A. C. 27. 

CONSIDERATIONS OX SUCH PARTICULARS AS 
MARK THE GENIUS AND NATIONAL CHARAC- 
TER OF THE ROMANS. 

SECTION XXXY. 

SYSTEM OF ROMAN EDUCATION. 

I. A virtuous but rigid severity of manners was the cha- 
racteristic of the Romans under their kings, and in the first 



sect. 35. ANCIENT HISTORY. 97 

ages of the republic. The private life of the citizens, frugal, 
temperate, and laborious, had its' influence on their public 
character. The paternal authority (patria potestas) gave to 
every head of a family a sovereign authority over all the 
members that composed it; and this power, felt as a right 
of nature, was never abused. Plutarch has remarked, 
as a defect of tiie Roman laws, that they did not prescribe, 
as those of Lacedsemon, a system and rules for the edu- 
cation of youth. But the truth is, the manners of the 
people supplied this want. The utmost attention was be- 
stowed iu the early formation of the mind and character. 
The excellent author of the dialogue Be Oratoribus {concern- 
ing orators) presents a valuable picture of the Roman educa- 
tion in the early ages of the commonwealth, contrasted with 
the less virtuous practice of the more refined ages. The 
Roman matrons did not abandon their infants to merce- 
nary nurses. They regarded the careful nurture of their 
offspring, the rudiments of their education, and the necessa- 
ry occupations of their household, as the highest points of 
female merit. Next to the care bestowed in the instilment 
of virtuous morals, a remarkable degree of attention seems 
to have been given to the language of children, and to the at- 
tainment of a correctness and purity of expression. Cicero 
informs us that the Gracchi, the sons of Cornelia, were edu- 
cated, non tarn in gnemio quam in sermone matris, in the 
speech more than in the bosom of their mother. That urbanity 
which characterized the Roman citizens showed itself par- 
ticularly in their speech and gesture, 

2. The attention to the language of the youth had another 
source. It was by eloquence, more than by any other talent, 
that the young Roman could rise to the highest offices and 
dignities of the state. The studio forensia (forensic studies') 
were, therefore, a principal object of the Roman education. 
Plutarch informs us, that among the sports of the children 
at Rome, one was, pleading causes before a mock tribunal, 
and accusing and defending a criminal in the usual forms of 
judicial procedure. 

3. The exercises of the body were likewise particularly 
attended to ; whatever might harden the temperament, and 



g$ ANCIENT HISTORY, part 1, 

confer strength and agility. These exereises were daily prac- 
tised by the youth, under the eye of their elders, in the Cam- 
pus Martius. 

4. At seventeen the youth assumed the manly robe. He 
was consigned to the care of a master of rhetoric, whom he 
attended constantly to the forum, or to the courts of justice ; 
for, to be an accomplished gentleman, it was necessary that a 
Roman should be an accomplished orator. The pains bestowed 
on the attainment of this character, and the best instructions 
for its acquisition, we learn from the writings of Cicero, 
Quintilian, and the younger Pliny. 



SECTION XXXVI. 

OE THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS. 

1. Before the intercourse with Greece, which took place 
after the Punic Avars, the Roman people were utterly rude 
and illiterate. As among all nations the first appearance of 
the literary spirit is shown in poetical composition, so the Ro- 
man warrior had probably, like the Indian or the Celtic, his 
war-songs, which celebrated his triumphs in battle. Religion 
likewise employs the earliest poetry of most nations; and if 
a people subsist by agriculture, a plentiful harvest is celebra- 
ted in the rustic song of the husbandman. The versus fescen- 
nini (fescennine verses), mentioned by Livy, were probably 
of the nature of poetical dialogue, or alternate verses sung 
by the labourers, in a strain of coarse merriment and raillery. 
This show s a dawning of the drama. 

2. About the 390th year of Rome, on occasion of a pesti- 
lence, ludiones (drolls or stage dancers) were brought from 
Etruria, qui ad tihicinis modos saltantes, haiM indecoros motus 
more Tusco dabant; who danced to the tunes of a musician, 
and, in the Tuscan fashion, exhibited motions that were not 
ungraceful. Livy tells us that the Roman youth imitated these 
performances, and added to them rude and jocular verses, pro- 
bably the fescennine dialogues. The regular drama was in- 
troduced at Rome from Greece by Livius Andronicus, A, U. 



sect. 36. ANCIENT HISTORY. 99 

C. 514. The earliest Roman plays were therefore, we inay 
presume, translations from the Greek. 

Et post Punica bella quietus quserere coepit, 

Quid Sophocles, et Thespis, et JEschylus utile ferrent. 

Hor. Epist. Lib. II, i. 
And being at- peace after the Punic wars, the Romans began to 

inquire what advantages might be derived from the writings of 

Sophocles, Thespis, and iEschylus. 

3. Of the early Roman drama Ennius was a great orna- 
ment, and from his time the art made rapid advancement. 
The comedies of Plautus, the contemporary of Ennius, with 
great strength and spirit of dialogue, display a considerable 
knowledge of human nature, and are read at this day with 
pleasure. 

4. Csecilius improved so much on the comedy of Plautus, 
that he is mentioned by Cicero as perhaps the best of the 
Roman comic writers. Of his compositions we have no re- 
mains. His patronage fostered the rising genius of Terence, 
whose first comedy, the *Hndria, was performed A. U. C. 587. 
The merit of the comedies of Terence lies in the nature and 
simplicity which are observable in the structure of his fables, 
in the delineation of his characters, and in the delicacy and 
purity of the sentiments of his pieces. They are deficient, 
however, in comic energy ; and are not calculated to excite 
ludicrous emotions. They are chiefly borrowed from the 
Greek of Menander and Apollodorus. 

5. The Roman comedy was of four different species : the 
comedia togata or prcetexiata, the comedia tabernaria, the at- 
tellance, and the mimi. The first species admitted serious 
scenes and personages, and was of the nature of the modern 
sentimental comedy. The second was a representation of or- 
dinary life and manners. The attellanui were pieces where 
the dialogue was not committed to writing, but the subject of 
the scene was prescribed, and the dialogue filled up by the 
talents of the actors. The mimi were pieces of comedy of 
the lowest species j farces, or entertainments of buffoonery ; 
though sometimes admitting the serious, and even the pathe- 
tic. 

6. The Roman tragedy kept pace in its advancement with 

the comedy. The best of the Roman tragic poets were Ac- 



100 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

tins and Pacuvius, of whom we have no remains. The trage- 
dies published under the name of Seneca are generally es- 
teemed the work of different hands. None of them are of su- 
perlative merit. 

7. Velleius Paterculus remarks, that the sera of the per- 
fection of Roman literature was the age of Cicero, compre- 
hending" all the literary men of the preceding times whom 
Cicero might have seen, and all those of the succeeding 
who might have seen him. Cicero, Quintilian, and Pliny cele- 
brate, in high terms, the writings of the elder Cato, whose 
principal works were historical, and have entirely perished. 
We have his fragments, de Me Rustica (on agriculture), in 
which he was imitated by Yarro, one of the earliest of the 
good writers among the Romans, and a man of universal eru- 
dition. Of the variety of his talents we may judge, not only 
from the splendid eulogium of Cicero, bnt from the circum- 
stance of Pliny having recourse to his authority in every 
hook of his Natural History. 

8. Sallust, in order of time, comes next to Varro. This 
writer introduced an important improvement on history, as 
treated by the Greek historians, by applying (as Dionysius of 
Halicarnassus says) the science of philosophy to the study of 
facts. Sallust is therefore to be considered as the father of 
philosophic history ; a species of writing which has been so 
successfully cultivated in modern times. He is an admirable 
writer for the matter of his compositions, which evince great 
judgment and knowledge of human nature, but by no means 
commendable for his style and manner of writing. He affects 
singularity of expression, an antiquated phraseology, and a 
petulant brevity and sententiousness, which has nothing of 
the dignity of the historical style. 

9. Csesar has much more purity of style, and more correct- 
ness and simplicity of expression; but his Commentaries, 
wanting that amplitude of diction and fulness of illustration, 
which are essential to history, are rather of the nature of an- 
nals. 

10. In all the requisites of a historian Livy stands unrival- 
led among the Romans; possessing consummate judgment in 
the selection of facts, perspicuity of arrangement, sagacious 
reflection, sound views of policy, with the most copious, pure, 



sect. 36, ANCIENT HISTORY, lOi 

and eloquent expression. It has been objected, that his 
speeches derogate from the truth of history : but this was a 
prevalent taste with the ancient writers ; and as those speech- 
es are always known to be the composition of the historian, 
the reader is not misled. As to the style of Livy, though in, 
general excellent, we sometimes perceive in it, and most 
commonly in the speeches, an affectation of the pointed sen- 
tences (the vibr antes sententiolce) and obscurity of the declaini- 
ers, which evinces the pernicious influence acquired by 
those teachers at Home since the time of Cicero and Sallust. 

11. In the decline of Roman literature Tacitus is a histo- 
rian of no common merit. He successfully cultivated the me- 
thod pointed out by Sallust, of applying philosophy to history. 
In this he displays great knowledge of human nature, and 
penetrates, with singular acuteness, into the secret springs of 
policy, and the motives of actions. But his fault is, that he is 
too much of a politician, drawing his characters after the mo- 
del of his own mind; ever assigning actions and events to 
preconceived scheme and design, and allowing too little for 
the operation of accidental causes, which often have the 
greatest influence on human affairs. Tacitus professedly imi- 
tated the style of Sallust; adopting ail the ancient phraseo- 
logy, as well as the new idioms introduced into the Roman 
language by that writer. To his brevity and abruptness he 
added most of the faults of the declaiming school. His ex- 
pression, therefore, though extremely forcible, is often enig- 
matically obscure; the worst property that style can possess. 

12. Among the eminent Roman poets (after the dramatic) 
Lucretius deserves first to be noticed. He has great inequa- 
lity, being sometimes verbose, rugged, and perplexed, and 
sometimes displaying all the elegance as well as the fire of 
poetry. This may be in great part attributed to his sub- 
ject. Philosophical disquisition is unsuitable to poetry. It 
demands a dry precision of thought and expression, rejecting 
all excursive fancy and ornament of diction. That luxuriance 
of imagery, which is the soul of poetry, is raving and imper- 
tinence when applied to philosophy. 

13. Catullus, the contemporary of Lucretius, is the ear- 
liest of the Roman lyric poets. His Epigrams are pointed. 



102 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

and satirical, but too licentious ; his Idyllia are tender, na- 
tural, and picturesque. He flourished in the age of Julius 
Caesar. 

14. In the succeeding age of Augustus poetry attained to 
its highest elevation among the Romans. Virgil, Horace, 
Ovid, and Tibullus, were all contemporaries. Virgil is al- 
lowed the same rank among the Roniam poets as Homer 
among the Greek. If Horner, excel Virgil in the sublime, the 
latter surpasses the former in the tender and the elegant. 
The transcendant merits of Homer arc sullied by occasional 
defects. Virgil is the model of a correct taste. The difference 
of manner in the Bucolics, the Georgics, and the JEneid, 
shows that Virgil was capable of excelling in various de- 
partments of poetry ; and such is the opinion of Martial, who 
affirms that he could have surpassed Horace in lyric poetry, 
and Varius in tragedy. 

15. Horace excels as a lyric poet, a satirist, and a critic. 
In liis Odes there is more variety than in those of either 
Anacreon or Pindar. He can alternately display the sublimi- 
ty of the latter, and the jocose vein of the former. His Sa- 
tires have that characteristic slyness and obliquity of censure, 
associated with humour and pleasantry, which strongly dis- 
tinguish them from the stern and cutting sarcasm of Juvenal. 
As a critic his rules are taken chiefly from Aristotle ; but 
they contain the elements of a just taste in poetical compo- 
sition, and therefore do not admit of variation. The Satires 
of Juvenal, compared with those of Horace, are deficient in 
facetiousncss and urbanity ; but they are superior in acute- 
ness of thought, and in manly vigour of sentiment. 

16. In variety of talent, without supreme excellence, and in 
ease and elegance of numbers, no Koman poet has excelled 
Ovid. In his Metamorphoses particularly, with great fancy, 
we have specimens of the pathetic, the descriptive, the elo- 
quent, and even the sublime. His Elegies have more of na- 
ture and of real passion than those of either Tibullus orPro- 
pertius. His amatory verses have much tenderness, but are 
too frequently loose, and even grossly licentious. 

17. There is nothing more elegant than the compositions of 
Tibullus, nothing more delicate than the turn of his expres- 



sect. 37. ANCIENT HISTORY. 103 

sion ; but it is not the language of passion. The sentiments 
are tender, but their power of affecting the heart is weaken- 
ed by the visible care and solicitude of the poet for refined 
phraseology and polished numbers; nor is there either much 
fancy or variety of thought. A single elegy exhibits the sen- 
timents of the whole. 

18. Martial is the last of the roinan poets who can 
be mentioned with high approbation. His epigrams, inde- 
pendent of their art and ingenuity, are valuable, as throwing 
light upon the Roman manners. He possesses, above every 
other poet, a naivete of expression, which is chiefly observable 
in his serious epigrams. He is well characterized by the 
younger Pliny. Ingeniosus, acer, et qui in scribcndo ct salis 
haberet etfellis, nee candoris minus. Epist. 3. 21. His wri- 
tings are ingenious and acute; they possess humour and satire, 
and no less candour. 

19. Luxuriance of ornament, and fondness for point, and 
brilliancy of thought and expression, are certain indications 
of the decline of good taste. Those characters strongly mark 
the Latin poets of the succeeding ages. Lucan has some 
scattered examples of genuine poetic imagery, and Persius 
some happy strokes of animated satire ; but they scarcely 
compensate the affected obscurity of one, and the bombast 
of the other. The succeeding poets, Statins, Silius Italicus, 
and Valerius Flaccus, in their attempts at the most difficult 
of ail species of poetry, the epic, have only more signally dis- 
played the inferiority of their genius, and the manifest deauj 
of the art. 

SECTION XXXVII. 

STATE OF PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE EOMANS. 

1. The Romans, in the earlier periods of the republic, had 
little leisure to bestow on the cultivation of the sciences, and 
had no idea of philosophical speculation. It was not till the 
end of the sixth century from the building of the city, and 
in the interval between the war with Perseus and the third 
Punic war, that philosophy first made its appearance at 



104 ANCIENT HISTORY. part 1. 

Rome, A few learned Achseans, banished from their coun- 
try, had settled in various parts of Italy. Applying them- 
selves to the cultivation of literature and the education of 
youth, they diffused a taste for those studies hitherto un- 
known to the Romans. The elder citizens regarded those 
pursuits with an unfavourable eye. Jealous of the introduc- 
tion of foreign manners with foreign studies, the senate ba- 
nished the Greek philosophers from Rome. But an Athenian 
embassy, arriving soon after, brought thither Carneades and 
Oitolaus, who revived the taste for the Greek philosophy, 
and left behind them many able disciples, who publicly 
taught their doctrines. 

2. It was natural that those systems should be most gene- 
rally adopted, which were most suitable to the national cha- 
racter. While the manners of the Romans had a tincture of 
ancient severity, the stoical system prevailed. Scipio, Lseli- 
us, and the younger Cato, rank among its chief partizans. 

3. The philosophy of Aristotle was little known in Rome 
till the age of Cicero. At that time Cratippus and Tyran- 
nion taught his system with great reputation. Yet Cicero 
complains that the peripatetic philosophy was little under- 
stood at Rome ; and, therefore, he sent his son to study its 
doctrines in the schools of Athens. 

4. Lucullus, whose stay in Greece gave him an opportuni- 
ty of being acquainted with all the different sects, dissemi- 
nated, on his return to Rome, a very general taste for philo- 
sophy. His patronage of learned men, and his liberality in 
allowing his library to be open for the public use, contri- 
buted greatly to the promotion of literature. 

5. The old and New Academy had each its partizans. Of 
the former, which may be termed the Stoico-Platonie, the 
most illustrious disciples were Marcus Brutus and Terrenti- 
us Varro. To the philosophical talents of Brutus, and the 
universal erudition of Varro, the writings of Cicero bear am- 
ple testimony. Cicero himself must be deemed the most emi- 
nent of all the Roman philosophers. He is classed among 
the principal supporters of the New Academy ; though it 
seems to have been his purpose to elucidate the Greek philo- 
sophy in general, rather than to rank himself among the dis- 
ciples of any particular sect, 



sect. 38. ANCIENT HISTORY. 105 

6. The cultivation of physics, or natural philosophy, seems 
to have been little attended to either by the Greeks or Ro- 
mans. Unless agriculture should be classed under this de- 
scription, we know of no Roman authors, except Varro and 
the elder Pliny, who seem to have bestowed much attention 
on the operations of nature. The works of Varro have 
perished, except a few fragments. The Natural History of 
Pliny is a most valuable storehouse of the knowledge of the 
ancients in physics, economics, and the arts and sciences. It 
Is to be regretted that the style is unsuitable to the matter,, 
being too frequently florid, declamatory, and obscure. 

7. The philosophy of Epicurus was unknown in the early 
ages of the Roman commonwealth. It was introduced with 
luxury, and kept pace in its advancement with the corruption 
of manners. Linneas having discoursed on the tenets of 
Epicurus at the table of Pyrrhus, Fabricius exclaimed, 
" May the enemies of Rome ever entertain such principles !" 
Yet these principles were, in a short time from that period, 
too current among the citizens of Rome, 



SECTION XXXVIIL 

OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MANNERS OF THE ROMANS. 

1. The manners of the Romans in the early ages of the 
republic were so different from those of the latter times, that 
one should be led to suppose some very extraordinary causes 
to have co-operated to produce so remarkable a change : yet 
the transition is easy to be accounted for. A spirit of tem- 
perance, of frugality, and probity, is the characteristic of 
every infant establishment. A virtuous simplicity of man- 
ners, and a rigour of military discipline, paved the way for 
the extension of the Roman arms, and for their prodigious 
conquests. These conquests introduced wealth, luxury, and 
corruption. 

2. In the early times of the republic, the patricians, when 
in the country, forgot the distinction of ranks, and laboured 
in the cultivation of their fields, like the meanest plebeians, 

o 



106 ANCIENT HISTORY. fart r. 

have the examples of Cincinnatus, Curius, the elder Cato, 
and Scipio Africanus. The town was visited only every 
ninth day, which was the market-day. In those times of 
virtuous simplicity, says Sallust, Komi militiazque boni mores 
coUbantur. Buabus artibus, audacia in hello, ubi pax eve- 
nerat, ozquitate, seque remque publicum curabant. Good man- 
ners were cultivated both in peace and war. By two means, 
valour in, war, and equity in peace, they supported themselves 
and the commonwealth. But when the Romans had ex- 
tended their dominion, in consequence of this very discipline 
and these manners, they imported, with the wealth of the 
conquered nations, their tastes, their manners, and their 
vices. 

3. The Romans had no natural taste in the fine arts. On 
the conquest of Greece an immense field opened at once to 
their eyes, and the master-pieces of art poured in upon them 
in abundance. But they could not appreciate their excel- 
lences. The Roman luxury, as far as the arts were con- 
cerned, was in general displayed in an awkward, heavy, and 
tasteless magnificence. 

4. The public and private life of the Romans will be best 
elucidated, by a short account of the manner in which the 
day was passed at Rome, both by the higher and lower ranks 
of the people. By apart of the citizens the morning hours 
Were spent in visiting the temples, by others in attending the 
levees of the great. The clientes (clients) waited on their 
patroni (patrons) ; the patricians visited one another, or paid 
their compliments to the leaders of the republic. Popularity 
was always the first object of ambition at Rome, as paving 
the way to all advancement. From the levee they proceeded 
to the forum, either to assist in the public business, or for 
amusement. There the time was spent till noon, which was 
the hour of dinner among the Romans. This was chiefly a 
very light repast, of which it was not customary to invite 
any guests to partake. After dinner the youth repaired to 
the Campus Martins, where they occupied themselves in 
athletic exercises and sports till sunset* The elder class 
retired for an hour to repose, and then passed the afternoon 
m their porticoes, galleries, or libraries, where they enjoyed 



kect. 38. ANCIENT HISTORY. 107 

the conversation of their friends, or heard recitations of 
literary works ; others repaired to the theatres, or to the 
shows of the circus and amphitheatre. 

5. Comhats of gladiators were introduced for the first time 
about the 400th year of the city. These and fights Avith 
wild beasts soon became a most favourite amusement among 
the Romans. The spirit of luxury, which in general is not 
unfavourable to humanity, showed its progress among the 
Romans by an increasing ferocity and inhumanity of the pub- 
lic spectacles. Theatrical entertainments were in high 
request. (Sect. XXXYI, § 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) The taste for pan- 
tomime came to such a height, that the art was taught in pub- 
lic schools, and the nobility and people were divided into par- 
ties in favour of the rival performers ; an abuse which called 
at length for the interposition of the laws. 

6. From the porticoes, or from the theatre and amphithea- 
tre, it was customary to go to the baths, of which there were 
many for the use of the public. The rich had baths in their 
own houses, vying with one another in this as in every other 
article of luxury or magnificence. From the bath they went 
immediately to supper, generally about the ninth or tenth 
hour, counting from sunrise. At table they reclined on cou- 
ches. The luxury of the Roman suppers far exceeded every 
thing known among the moderns. An antecoenium of pickles 
and spices was presented, to prepare and sharpen the appe- 
tite. Cookery became a science. The number and costli- 
ness of the dishes were incredible. The entertainment Avas 
heightened by every thing gratifying to the senses ; by male 
xmd female dancers, musicians, pantomimes, and even shows 
of gladiators. 

7. In the end of the republic pleasure and amusement 
were the darling objects of all ranks of the citizens : they 
sought no more than panem et circenses (bread and games in 
the circus). 



£08 ANCIENT HISTORY. urx i. 

SECTION XXXIX. 

OT THE ART OF WAR AMONG THE ROMANS. 

1. From the prodigious success which attended the arms 
of the Romans, and the dominion which they acquired over 
the greater part of the known world, it seems a natural in- 
ference that they must have excelled all the eotemporary 
nations in the military art. Vegetius expressly assigns their 
extensive conquests to that cause alone. It is the discipline 
of an army that makes a multitude act as one man. It like- 
wise increases the courage of troops ; for each individual con- 
fides in the steady co-operation of his fellows. 

2. From the constant practice of athletic exercises the 
Romans were inured from infancy to hardiness and fatigue, 
and bred to that species of life which a soldier leads in the 
most active campaign in the field. 

3. The levies were made annually, by the tribes called out, 
and divided into their respective number of centuries ; each 
century presenting by rotation as many soldiers as there were 
legions intended to be raised; and the tribunes of the several 
legions taking their turn by rotation in the selection of the 
men presented by the centuries. (Sect. XXIV, § 16.) The 
number of soldiers in the legion was various at different 
periods, from 3000 to 10000 and 11000. 

4. Among the ancient nations there were usually two dif- 
ferent arrangements of the troops in order of battle. One 
the phalanx, or close arrangement in a rectangular form, 
intersected only by great divisions; a disposition commonly 
used by the Greeks, and by most of the barbarous nations, 
The other the quincunx, or chequer, consisting of small com- 
panies or platoons, disposed in three straight lines, with 
alternate spaces between the companies equal to the space 
occupied by each company. In the first line were the hastati, 
in the second the principes, and in the third the triarii. On 
the flanks of the first line were the cavalry, ia detached com- 
panies ; and in front of the line were the velites, or light- 
armed troops, who usually began with a skirmishing attack. 



iECT. 39, ANCIENT HISTORY. 

and then were withdrawn, to make way for the main body to 
eome into action. The advantages of this arrangement were, 
that the line of battle could be three times formed with fresh 
troops, and that it was more adapted than any other for rapid 
changes of movement. In the Roman legion the arms of the 
hastati and principes were the pilum or heavy javelin, and the 
sword and buckler ; and of the triarii, the long spear, with the 
sword and buckler. 

5. Notwithstanding these advantages the quincunx went 
into disuse toward the end of the republic, and from that 
time various arrangements of the legion were used, according 
to circumstances. The Roman tactics are supposed to have 
been at their greatest pitch of excellence during the Punie 
wars. Hannibal was a great master of the science of tac- 
tics; and the Romans profited by the experience of his ability. 
The battle of Cannse, as described by Polybius, affords signal 
evidence of the great talents of the Carthaginian general, 
The description of that battle has been misrepresented by 
Folard ; but it is accurately explained in the Memoires Mill- 
taires of M. Guischardt. If the quincunx disposition had 
been kept by the Roman army in that engagement, the event 
might have been very different; for it would have disap- 
pointed the effect of an artful manoeuvre planned by Hannibal, 
on observing his enemy's army arranged in the unusual' order 
of the phalanx. 

6. The art of intrenchment was carried to perfection hy 
the Romans, particularly by Julius C^sar. With 60000 men 
he defended himself in his intrenchments before Alexia, 
while the lines of circumvallation were attacked by 240000 
Gauls, and the lines of countervallation by 8Q000, without 
effect. These intrenchments consisted of a ditch from nine 
to fifteen feet in depth and width, fenced on the inside by the 
mound of excavated earth, and on the outside hj strong 
stakes with pointed branches. 

7. In besieging a town several camps were formed round 
the place, joined to one another by lines of circumvallation 
and countervallation. A mound of earth (agger') was raised, 
beginning by a gentle slope from one of the camps, and gra- 
dually rising in elevation as it approached the city. The 



HO ANCIENT HISTORY. parti. 

front, where the workmen were employed, was defended by 
a curtain of hides fixed on strong posts. On this mound the 
engines of attack, catapultce and balistce, were advanced, till 
they played on the very spot which the besiegers wished to 
assail. The catapultaz discharged heavy stones, the balistoe 
arrows. The same machines were used by the besieged for 
annoying the enemy. When the engines on the terrace had 
driven the besieged from the walls, the battering-ram (juries) 
was then brought up under a pent-house (testudo) ; and, if it 
once reached the wall, was generally decisive of the fate of 
the town. The main object of the besieged was therefore to 
prevent its approach by every power of annoyance. Stones, 
darts, and combustible matters, were continually launched 
upon the assailants; and sometimes a mine was dug from the 
city to scoop away the terrace and all its engines. These arts 
of attack and defence of fortified places were in general use 
among the nations of antiquity, and continued down to mo- 
dern times, till the invention of gunpowder. 

8. The naval military art was utterly unknown among the 
Romans till the first Funic war. A Carthaginian galley was 
the first model of a vessel of war. In the space of two 
months they equipped a fleet of 100 galleys of five banks of 
oars, and 20 of three banks. The structure of those galleys, 
and the mode of arranging the rowers, may be learned from 
the ancient sculptures and medals. The combatants at sea 
assailed at a distance with javelins, missile combustibles, and 
sometimes with catapulted and balistm; but the serious attack 
was made in boarding, when the vessels were grappled by 
means of a crane let down from the prow. 

9. In the times of the empire the Romans maintained their 
distant conquests, not only by their aimies, but by their fleets. 
The ships were moored in the large rivers and bays ; and 
both the legions and the fleets generally preserved a fixed 
station. 



sec?. 40, ANCIENT HISTORY Hi 

SECTION XL. 

REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM A VIEW OF THE ROMAN 
HISTORY DURING THE COMMONWEALTH. 

i. The history of all nations evinces, that there is an inse- 
parable connection between the morals of a people and their 
political prosperity. But we have no stronger demonstration 
of this truth than the annals of the Roman commonwealth. 
To limit to republics alone the necessity of virtue, as a prin- 
ciple, is a chimerical notion, fraught with dangerous conse- 
quences. C(iiid leges sine rnoribus nance, prqficiunt f (laws 
without morals avail nothing) is a sentiment equally applica- 
ble to all governments ; and no political system, however 
excellent its fabric, can possess any measure of duration, 
without that powerful cement, virtue, in the principles and 
manners of the people. (Sect. XIX, § 4.) 

2. The love of our country, and the desire for its rational 
liberty, are noble and virtuous feelings ; and their prevalence 
is ever a test of the integrity of the national morals. But no 
term has been more prostituted than the word liberty. In a 
corrupted people, the cry for liberty is heard the loudest among 
the most profligate of the community. With these its mean- 
ing has no relation to patriotism ; it imports no more than 
the aversion to restraint ; and the personal character of the 
demagogue, and the private morals of his disciples, are al- 
ways sufficient to unmask the counterfeit. The spirit of pa- 
triotism and a general corruption of manners cannot possibly 
be coexistent in the same age and nation. 

5. On the other hand, while the morals of a people are 
pure, no public misfortune is irretrievable, nor any political 
situation so desperate, that hope may not remain of a favour- 
able change. In such situations, the spirit of patriotism per- 
vading all ranks of the state will soon recover the national 
prosperity. The history of the Roman people, and that of 
the Grecian states, in various crises, both of honour and of 
disgrace, affords proofs alike of this position and of its con 
verse. 



£f2 ANCIENT HISTORY. part t 

4. The national character of the Romans seems to have 
undergone its most remarkable change for the worse from 
the time of the destruction of their rival, Carthage. Saliust 
assigns the cause. Ante Carthaginem delctam,— — metus hos« 
iilis in bonis artibus eveitatem retinebat. Sed ubi ilia formido 
mentibus decessit, scilicet ea quae, secundum res amant, lascivia 
atque superbia invascre. Before the destruction of Carthage^ 

4he fear of their enemy kept the people in the practice of 
■virtue ; but tvhen the restraint of fear ceased to influence their 
conduct, they abandoned themselves to profligacy and ai'ro- 
gance, the usual concomitants of prosperity. 

5. In the last ages of the commonwealth avarice and am- 
bition, unrestrained by moral principle, were the chief mo- 
tives of the Homan conquests. It was sufficient reason for 
going to war, that a country offered a tempting object to the 
rapacity and ambition of the military leaders. The conquest 
of Italy paved the way for the reduction of foreign nations. 
Hence the Romans imported, with their wealth, the manners, 
the luxuries, and the vices, of the nations which they subdued. 
The generals returned not as formerly, after a successful 
war, to the labours of the field, and to a life of temperance 
and industry. They were now the governors of kingdoms and 
provinces; and at the period of their command abroad, dis- 
daining the restraints of a subject, they could be satisfied 
with nothing less than sovereignty at home. The armies, de- 
bauched by the plunder of kingdoms, were completely dis- 
posed to support them in all their schemes of ambition; and 
the populace, won by corruption, always took part with the 
chief who best could pay for their favour and support. Force 
or bribery overruled every election ; and the inhabitants of 
distant states, now holding the right of citizens, were brought 
to Rome, at the command of the demagogue, to influence 
any popular contest, and turn the seale in his favour. In a 
government thus irretrievably destroyed by the decay of 
those springs by which it was supported, it was of little con- 
sequence by what particular tyrant, usurper, or demagogue, 
its ruin was finally accomplished. 

6. From a consideration of the rise and fall of the princi- 
pal states of antiquity, it has been a commonly received opi- 



sect. 40. ANCIENT HISTORY. 113 

nion, that the constitution of empires has, like the human 
body, a period of growth, maturity, decline, and extinction,, 
But arguments from analogy are extremely deceitful, and 
particularly so when the analogy is from physical to moral 
truths. The human body is, from its fabric, naturally sub- 
ject to decay, and is perpetually undergoing a change from 
time. Its organs, at first weak, attain gradually their perfect 
strength, and thence, by a similar gradation, proceed to de- 
cay and dissolution. This is an immutable law of its nature. 
But the springs of the body politic do not necessarily undergo 
a perpetual change from time. It is not regularly progressive 
from weakness to strength, and thence to decay and dissolu- 
tion ; nor is it under the influence of any principle of corrup- 
tion, which may not be cheeked, and even eradicated, by 
wholesome laws. Thus the beginning of the corruption of 
Sparta is attributed to Lysander's breach of the institutions 
of Lycurgus, in introducing gold into the treasury of the state 
instead of its iron money. But was this a necessary or an 
unavoidable measure? Perhaps a single vote in the senate 
decreed its adoption, and therefore another suffrage might 
have prevented, or long postponed, the downfai of the com- 
monwealth. The Roman republic owed its dissolution to the 
extension of its dominions. If it had been a capital crime for 
any Roman citizen to have proposed to carry the arms of the 
republic beyond the limits of Italy, its constitution might 
have been preserved for many ages beyond the period of its 
actual duration. "Accustom your mind," saidPhoeion to Aris- 
tias, "to discern, in the fate of nations, that recompence 
which the great Author of nature 1ms annexed to the prac- 
tice of virtue. No state ever ceased to be prosperous, but in 
consequence of having departed from those institutions to 
which she owed her prosperity." History indeed has shown 
that all states and empires have had their period of duration ; 
but history, instructing us in the causes which have produced 
their decline and fall, inculcates also this salutary lesson, 
that nations are in general the masters of their own destiny, 
and that they may, and most certainly ought to, aspire at im- 
morlalitv. 



114 ANCIENT HISTORY, hrt t. 

7. It was a great desideratum in ancient politics, that a 
government should possess within itself the power of periodi- 
cal reformation ; a capacity of cheeking any overgrowth of 
authority in any of its branches, and of winding up the ma- 
chine, or bringing back the constitution to its first princi- 
ples. To the want of such a power in the states of antiquity 
(which they ineffectually endeavoured to supply by such par- 
tial contrivances as the ostracism and petalism) we may cer- 
tainly ascribe, in no small degree, the decay of those states ; 
for in their governments, when the balance was once de- 
stroyed, the evil grew worse from day to day, and admitted no 
remedy but a revolution, or entire change of the system. 
The British constitution possesses this inestimable advantage 
over all the governments both of ancient and modern times, 
with the single exception of the government of the United 
States of America. Besides the perpetual power of reform 
vested in parliament, (he constitution may be purified of every 
abuse, and brought back to its first principles, at the com- 
mencement of exery reign. But of this we shall afterward 
treat in its proper place. 



SECTION XLI. 

ROME UNDER THE EMPERORS. 

1. The battle of Actium, decided the fate of the common- 
wealth, and Octavius, now named Augustus, was master of 
the lloman empire. He possessed completely the sagacity 
of discerning what character was best fitted for gaining the 
affections of the people whom he governed, and the versatility 
of temper and genius to assume it. His virtues, though the 
result of policy, not of nature, were certainly favourable to 
the happiness, and even to the liberties of his subjects. The 
fate of Caesar warned him of the insecurity of an usurped 
dominion ; and therefore, while he studiously imitated the 
engaging manners and clemency of his great predecessor, he 
affected a much higher degree of moderation, and respect for 
the rights of the people. 



sect. 41. ANCIENT HISTORY. ^5 

2. The temple of Janus was shut, which had heen open 
for 188 years, since the beginning of the second Punic war; 
an event productive of universal joy. " The Romans (says Con- 
dillac) now believed themselves a free people, since they had no 
longer to fight for their liberty." The sovereign kept up 
this delusion, by maintaining the ancient forms of the repub- 
lican constitution, in the election of magistrates, &c, though 
they were nothing more than forms. He even pretended to 
consider his own function as merely a temporary administra- 
tion for the public benefit. Invested with the consulate an^ 
censorship, he went through the regular forms of periodical 
election to those ofliees, and at the end of the seventh year of 
his government actually announced to the senate his resigna- 
tion of all authority. The consequence was, a general suppli- 
cation of the senate and people, that he would not abandon 
the republic, which he had saved from destruction. " Since 
it must be so," said he, " I accept the empire for ten years, 
unless the public tranquillity shall, before the expiration of 
that time, permit me to enjoy retirement, which I passion- 
ately long for." He repeated the same mockery five times in 
the course of his government, accepting the administration 
sometimes for ten, and sometimes only for five years. 

3. It was much to the credit of Augustus, that in the 
government of the empire he reposed unlimited confidence in 
Mecaenas, a most able minister, who had sincerely at heart 
the interest and happiness of the people. By his excellent 
counsels all public affairs were conducted, and the most salu- 
tary laws enacted for the remedy of public grievances, and 
even the correction of the morals of the people. To his 
patronage literature and the arts owed their encouragement 
and advancement. By his influence and wise instructions 
Augustus assumed those virtues to which his heart was a 
stranger, and which, in their tendency to the happiness of his 
subjects, were equally effectual as if they had been the ge- 
nuine fruits of his nature, 

4. On the death of Marcelius, the nephew and son-in-law 
of Augustus, and a prince of great hopes, 23 A. C, the em- 
peror bestowed his chief favour on Marcus Agrippa, giving 
him in marriage his daughter Julia, the widow of Marcelius. 



116 ANCIENT HISTORY. fart 1. 

Agrippa bad considerable military talents, and was success- 
ful in accomplishing the reduction of Spain, and subduing the 
revolted provinces of Asia. Augustus associated Agrippa 
with himself in the office of censor, and would probably have 
given him a share of the empire, if his death had not occa- 
sioned a new arrangement. Julia now took for her third 
husband Tiberius, who became the son-in-law of the emperor 
by a double tie, for Augustus had previously married his mo- 
ther Livia. This artful woman, removing all of the imperial 
family who stood betwixt her and the object of her ambition, 
thus made room for the succession of her son Tiberius, who, 
on his part, bent all his attention to gain the favour and con- 
fidence of Augustus. On the return of Tiberius from a suc- 
cessful campaign against the Germans, the people were made 
to solicit the emperor to confer on him the government ofthe 
provinces and the command of the armies. Augustus now 
gradually withdrew himself from the cares of empire. He 
died soon after at Nola, in Campania, in the 76th year of his 
age, and the 44th of his imperial reign, A. U. C. 767, and 
A. D. 14. 

5. A considerable part of the lustre thrown on the reign 
of Augustus is owing to the splendid colouring bestowed on 
his character by the poets and other authors who adorned his 
court, and repaid his favours by their adulation. Other 
sovereigns of much higher merits have been less fortunate in 
obtaining the applause of posterity. 

————— Illacrymabiles 
Urguentur, ignotique, longa 
Nocte, carent quia vate sacro.< 

Hon. Car. Lib. IV. 9. 
Unlamented and unknown, they sink into oblivion, because they have no in- 
spired bard to celebrate their praise. 

One great event distinguished the reign of Augustus, the 
birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which, accord- 
ing to the best authorities, happened A. XT. C. 754, and four 
years before the vulgar date of the christian sera.* 

* See Dr. Playfair's System of Chronology, p. 49, 50, a work of great research 
and accuracy, and by far the best on that subject. 



sect. 41. ANCIENT HISTORY. 117 

5. Augustus had named Tiberius his heir, together with 
his mother Livia ; and had substituted to them IJrusus, the 
son of Tiberius, and Germanieus. Tiberius was vicious, 
debauched, and cruel ; yet the very dread of his character- 
operated in securing an easy succession to the empire. An 
embassy from the senate entreated him to accept the govern- 
ment, which he modestly affected to decline, but suffered 
himself to be won by their supplications. Notwithstanding 
these symptoms of moderation, it soon appeared that the 
power enjoyed by his predecessor was too limited for the 
ambition of Tiberius. It was not enough that the substance 
of the republic was gone ; the very appearance of it was now 
to be demolished. The people were no longer assembled, 
and the magistrates of the state were supplied by the impe- 
rial will. 

6. Germanieus, tlie nephew of Tiberius, became the object 
of his jealousy, from the glory which he had acquired by his 
military exploits in Germany, and the high favour in which 
he stood with the Roman people. He was recalled in the 
midst of his success, and dispatched to the oriental provin- 
ces, where he soon after died ; and it was generally believed 
that he was poisoned by the emperor's command. 

7. JElius Sejanus, prsefeet of the prsetorian guards, the 
favourite counsellor of Tiberius, and the obsequious minister 
of his tyranny and crimes, conceived the daring project of a 
revolution, which should place himself on the throne, by the 
extermination of the whole imperial family. Drusus, the 
son of the emperor, was destroyed by poison. Agrippina, the 
widow of Germanieus, with her elder son, were banished i 
and the younger son was confined in prison. Tiberius was 
persuaded by Sejanus, under the pretence of the discovery of 
plots for his assassination, to retire from Rome to the Isle of 
Caprese, and devolve the government upon his faithful minis 
ter. But while Sejanus, thus far successful, meditated the 
last step to the accomplishment of his wishes, by the murder 
of his sovereign, his treason was detected; and the emperor 
dispatched his mandate to the senate, which was followed by 
his immediate sentence and execution. The public indigna- 



llg ANCIENT HISTORY. part 1. 

tion was not satisfied with, his death: the populace tore his 
body to pieces, and flung it into the Tiber. 

8. Tiberius now became utterly negligent of the cares of 
government, and the imperial power was displayed only in 
public executions, confiscations, and scenes of cruelty and 
rapine. At length the tyrant falling sick was strangled in 
his bed by Macro, the prsefect of the praetorian guards, in 
the 78th year of his age, and 23d of his reign, 

9. In the 18th year of Tiberius our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, the divine author of our religion, suffered death 
upon the cross, a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of 
mankind, A. D. S3. 

10. Tiberius had nominated for his heir Caligula, the son 
of Germanicus, his grandson by adoption ; and had joined 
with him Tiberius, the son of Drusus, his grandson by blood. 
The former enjoyed, on his father's account, the favour of 
the people ; and the senate, to gratify them, set aside the right 
of his colleague, and conferred on him the empire undivided. 
The commencement of his reign was signalized by a few acts 
of clemency, and even good policy. He restored the privi- 
leges of the comitia, and abolished arbitrary prosecutions for 
crimes of state. But, tyrannical and cruel by nature, he 
substituted military execution for legal punishment. The 
provinces were loaded with the most oppressive taxes, and 
daily confiscations filled the imperial coffers. The follies 
and absurdities of Caligula were equal to his vices, and it is 
hard to say whether he was most the object of hatred or of 
contempt to his subjects. He perished by assassination in 
the fourth year of his reign, the twenty-ninth of his age, 
A.U.C. 794, A. D. 42. 

11. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula, was saluted emperor 
by the prfetorian guards, who had been the murderers of his 
nephew. He was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus; 
a man of weak intellects, and of no education. His short 
reign was marked by an enterprize of importance. He 
undertook the reduction of Britain, and, after visiting the 
island in person, left his generals, Plautius and Vespasian, 
to prosecute a war which was carried on for several years 



sect. 42. ANCIENT HISTORY. 119 

with various success. The Silar; * " ? ^ants of South 

Wales, under their king Caraciaeas (Carat- made a hrave 
resistance, but were finally defeated; and Caractaeus w r as led 
captive to Rome, where the magnanimity of his demeanour 
procured him respect and admiration. 

12. The civil administration of Claudius was weak and 
contemptible. He was the slave even of his domestics, and 
the dupe of his infamous wives Messalioa and Agrippina. 
The former, abandoned to the most shameful profligacy, was 
at length put to death on suspicion of treasonable designs. 
The latter, who was the daughter of Germanicus, bent her 
utmost endeavours to secure the succession to the empire to 
her son Domitius Oenobardus, and employed every engine of 
vice and inhumanity to remove the obstacles to the accom- 
plishment of her wishes. Having at length prevailed on 
Claudius to adopt her son, and confer on him the title of 
Csesar, to the exclusion of his own son Britannicus, she now 
made room for the immediate elevation of Domitius, by 
poisoning her husband. Claudius was put to death in the 
15th year of his reign, and 63d of his age. 



SECTION XLIf. 

I. The son of Agrippina assumed the title of Nero Clau- 
dius. He had enjoyed the benefit of a good education under 
the philosopher Seneca, but reaped from his instructions no 
other fruit than a pedantic affectation of taste and learning, 
with no real pretension to either. While controuled by his 
tutor Seneca, and by Burrhus, captain of the praetorian guards, 
a man of worth and ability, Nero maintained for a short time 
a decency of public conduct; but the restraint was intolerable, 
and nature soon broke out. His real character was a com- 
pound of every thing that is base and inhuman. In the mur- 
der of his mother Agrippina, he revenged the crime which 
she had committed in raising him to the throne; he reward- 
ed the fidelity of Burrhus, by poisoning him ; and as a last 
kindness to his tutor Seneca, he allowed him to chuse the 
mode of his death. It was his darling amusement to exhibit 



120 ANCIENT HISTORY. »a»t x 

on the stage and amphitheatre as an actor, musician, or gla- 
diator. At length, become the object of universal hatred and 
contempt, a rebellion of his subjects, headed by Viudex, an 
illustrious Gaul, hurled this monster from the throne. He 
had not courage to attempt resistance ; and a slave, at his 
own request, dispatched him with a dagger. Nero perished 
In the 30th year of his age, after a reign of fourteen years, 
A. D. 69. 

2. Galba, the successor of Nero, was of an ancient and il- 
lustrious family. He was in the 73d year of his age, when 
the senate, ratifying the choice of the praetorian bands, pro- 
claimed him emperor. But an impolitic rigour of discipline 
soon disgusted the army; the avarice of his disposition, 
grudging the populace their favourite games and spectacles, 
deprived him of their affections ; and some iniquitous prose- 
cutions and confiscations excited general discontent and mu- 
tiny. Galba adopted and designed for his successor the able 
and virtuous Piso ; a measure which excited the jealousy of 
Otho, his former favourite, and led him to form the daring 
plan of raising himself to tiie throne by the destruction of 
both. He found the praetorians apt to his purpose. They 
proclaimed him emperor, and presented him, as a grateful 
offering, the heads of Galba and Piso, who were slain in quell- 
ing the insurrection. Galba had reigned seven months. Ma- 
jor privato visus, dum privatus fuit, et omnium consensu ca- 
pax imperii, nisi imperasset. Tacitus. He appeared to be great- 
er than a private man, while lie was in a private station; and, 
hy the consent of all, was capable of governing, if he had not 
governed, 

3. Otho had a formidable rival in Vitellius, who had been 
proclaimed emperor by his army in Germany. It is difficult 
to determine which of the competitors was, in point of abili- 
ties, the more despicable, or in character the more infamous. 
A decisive battle was fought at Bedriacum, near Mantua, 
where Otho was defeated, and in a fit of despair ended his 
life by his own hand, after a reign of three months, A. D. 70. 

4. The reign of Vitellius was of eight months' duration. 
He is said to have proposed Nero for his model, and it was 



sect. 42. ANCIENT HISTORY. igt 

just that he should resemble him in his fate. Vespasian had 
obtained from Nero the charge of the war against the Jews, 
which he had conducted with ability and success, and was 
proclaimed emperor hy his troops in the east. A great part 
of Italy submitted to Vespasian's generals; and Vitellius 
meanly capitulated to save his life, by a resignation of the 
empire. The people, indignant at his dastardly spirit, com- 
pelled him to an effort of resistance,- but the attempt was 
fruitless. Priscus, one of the generals of Vespasian, took 
possession of Rome ,• and Vitellius was massacred, and his 
body flung into the Tiber. 

5. Vespasian, though of mean descent, was worthy of the 
empire, and reigned with high popularity for ten years. He 
possessed great clemency of disposition. His manners were 
affable and engaging, and his mode of life was characterized 
by simplicity and frugality. He respected the ancient forms 
of the constitution, restored the senate to its deliberative 
rights, and acted by its authority in the administration of all 
public affairs. The only blemish in his character was a tinc- 
ture of avarice, and even that is greatly extenuated by the 
laudable and patriotic use which lie made of his revenues. 

Under the reign of Vespasian, and by the arms of his son 
Titus, was terminated the war against the Jews. They had 
been brought under the yoke of Rome by Pompey, who took 
Jerusalem. They were governed for some time by Herod, as 
viceroy under Augustus. The tyranny of his son Archelaus 
was the cause of his banishment, and of the reduction of Ju- 
dsea into the ordinary condition of a Roman province. The 
Jews rebelled on every slight occasion, and Nero had sent 
Vespasian to reduce them to order. He had just prepared for 
the siege of Jerusalem, when he was called to Rome to as- 
sume the government of the empire. Titus having succeeded 
his father in the command of the army, wished to spare the 
city, and tried every means to prevail on the Jews to surren- 
der ; but in vain. Their ruin was decreed by Heaven. After 
an obstinate blockade of six months Jerusalem was taken by 
storm, the temple was burnt to ashes, and the city buried in 
ruins. The Roman empire was now in profound peace. Ves- 
pasian associated Titus in the imperial dignity, and soon 



±%% ANCIENT HISTORY. pari i 

after died, universally lamented, at the age of sixty-nine, 
A. D. 79. 

6. The character of Titus was humane, munificent, digni- 
fied, and splendid. His short reign was a period of great hap- 
piness and prosperity to the empire ; and his government 
was a constant example of virtue, justice, and beneficence. In 
his time happened that dreadful eruption of Vesuvius, which 
overwhelmed the cities of Hersulaneum and Pompeii. The 
public losses from this calamity he repaired by the sacrifice 
of bis fortune and revenues. He died in the third year of 
his reign, and the fortieth of his age ; ever to be remembered 
by that most exalted epithet, delicim liumani generis (the de- 
light of mankind.} 

7. Domitian, the brother of Titus, succeeded to the em- 
pire, A. D. 81. He was a vicious and inhuman tyrant, and 
was suspected of having murdered Titus by poison. A re- 
bellion in Germany gave him occasion to signalize the bar- 
barity of his disposition ; and its consequences were long 
felt in the sanguinary punishments inflicted under the pre- 
tence of justice. The prodigal and voluptuous spirit of this 
reign was a singular contrast to its tyranny and inhumanity. 
The people were loaded with insupportable taxes to furnish 
spectacles and games for their amusement. The successes 
of Agricola in Britain threw a lustre on the Roman arms ; 
no part of which however reflected on the emperor, for he 
treated this eminent commander with the basest ingratitude. 
After fifteen tedious years this monster fell the victim of as- 
sassination, the empress herself conducting the plot for his 
murder, A. D. 96. 

8. Cocceius Nerva, a Cretan by birth, was chosen emperor 
by the senate, from respect to the virtues of his character. 
He was too old for the burden of government, and of a tem- 
per too placid for the restraint of rooted corruptions and 
enormities. His reign was weak, inefficient, and contempti- 
ble. His only act of real merit as a sovereign, was the adop- 
tion of the virtuous Trajan as his successor. Nerva died af- 
ter a reign of sixteen months, A. D. 98. 

9. Ulpius Trajanus possessed every talent and every virtue 
that can adorn a sovereign. Of great military abilities, and 



sect. 42. A$£!|In t T HISTORY. igg 

an indefatigable spirit of enterprize, lie raised the Roman 
arms to their ancient splendour, and greatly enlarged the 
boundaries of the empire. He subdued the Dacians, con- 
quered the Parthians, and brought under subjection Assyria, 
Mesopotamia, and Arabia Felix. Nor was he less eminent in 
promoting the happiness of his subjects, and the internal 
prosperity of the empire. Mis largesses were humane and 
munificent. He was the friend and support of the virtuous 
indigent, and the liberal patron of every useful art and talent. 
His bounties were supplied by a well-judged economy in his 
private fortune, and a wise administration of the publie 
finances. In his own life he was a man of simple manners, 
modest, affable, fond of the familiar intercourse of his friends, 
and sensible to all the social and benevolent affections. He 
merited the surname universally bestowed on him, Trajanus 
Optimus. He died at the age of sixty-three, after a glorious 
reign of nineteen years, A. D. 118. 

10. iEiius Adrianus, nephew of Trajan, and worthy to fill 
his place, was chosen emperor by the army in the east, and 
his title was acknowledged by all orders of the state. He 
adopted a policy different from that of his predecessor. Judg- 
ing the limits of the empire too extensive, he abandoned all 
the conquests of Trajan, bounding the eastern provinces by 
the Euphrates. He visited in person all the provinces of 
the empire, reforming, in his progress, all abuses, relieving 
his subjects of every oppressive burden, rebuilding the ruined 
cities, and establishing every where a regular and mild ad- 
ministration, under magistrates of approved probity and 
humanity. He gave a discharge to the indigent debtors of 
the state, and appointed liberal institutions for the education 
of the children of the poor. To the talents of an able poli- 
tician he joined an excellent taste in the liberal arts. His 
reign was an sera both of public happiness and splendour. 
In the last year of his life he bequeathed to the empire a 
double legacy, in adopting and declaring for his immediate 
successor, Titus Aurelius Antoninus, and substituting Annius 
Verus to succeed upon his death. These were the Antonines, 
who ruled the Roman empire, during forty years, with eon- 



124 ' ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

summate wisdom, ability, and virtue. Adrian reigned 22 
years, and died, A. D. 138, at tlie age of sixty-two. 



SECTION XLIII. 

AGE OE THE ANTOMTNES, &C. 

1. The happiest reigns furnish the fewest events for the 
pen of history. Antoninus was the father of his people. He 
preferred peace to the ambition of conquest ; yet in every 
necessary war the Roman arms had their wonted renown. 
The British province was enlarged by the conquests of Urbi- 
cus, and some formidable rebellions were subdued in Ger- 
many, Dacia, and the east. The domestic administration of 
the sovereign was dignified, splendid, and humane. With all 
the virtues of Numa, as his love of religion, peace, and jus- 
tice, he had the superior advantage of diffusing those bles- 
sings over a great portion of the world. He died at the age 
of seventy -four, after a reign of twenty-two years, A. D. 161. 

2. At his accession to the throne, Annius Verus assumed 
the name of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and bestowed on 
his brother Lucius Verus a joint administration of the empire. 
The former was as eminent for the worth and virtues of his 
character, as the latter w as remarkable for profligacy, mean- 
ness, and vice. Marcus Aurelius was attached both by nature 
and education to the Stoical philosophy, which he has ad- 
mirably taught and illustrated in his Meditations. His own 
life was the best commentary on his precepts. The Par- 
tisans were repulsed in an attack upon the empire, and a 
rebellion of the Germans was subdued. In those wars the 
mean and worthless Verus brought disgrace upon the Ro- 
man name in every region where he commanded ; but for- 
tunately relieved the empire of its fears by an early death. 
The residue of the reign of Marcus Aurelius was a continued 
blessing to his subjects. He reformed the internal policy of 
the state, regulated the government of the provinces, and 
visited for the purposes of beneficence, the most distant 
quarters of his dominions. "He appeared," says an ancient 



sect. 43. ANCIENT HISTORY. £25 

author, " like some benevolent deity, diffusing around him 
universal peace and happiness." He died in Pannonia, in the 
59th»year of his age, and 19th of his reign, A. D. 180. 

3. Commodus, his most unworthy son, succeeded to the 
empire on his death. He resembled in character his mother 
Faustina, a woman infamous for all manner of vice. Her 
profligacy was known to all but her husband Marcus, by 
whom she was regarded as a paragon of virtue. Commodus 
had an aversion to every rational and liberal pursuit, and a 
fond attachment to the sports of the circus and amphithea- 
tre, the hunting of wild beasts, and the combats of boxers and 
gladiators. The measures of this reign were as unimportant 
as the character of the sovereign was contemptible. His 
concubine and some of his chief officers prevented their own 
destruction by assassinating the tyrant, in the 32d year of hi? 
age, and 13th of his reign, A. D. 193. 

4. The praetorian guards gave the empire to Publius Hel~ 
vius Pertinax, a man of mean birth, who had risen to esteem 
by his virtues and military talents. He applied himself with 
zeal to the correction of abuses; but the austerity of his 
government deprived him of the affections of a corrupted 
people. He had disappointed the army of a promised reward, 
and, after a reign of eighty-six days, was murdered in the 
imperial palace by the same hands which had placed him on 
the throne. 

5. The empire was now put up to auction by the prsetorians, 
and was purchased by Didius Julianus; while Pescenius 
Niger in Asia, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius 
Severn s in Illyria, were each chosen emperor by the troops 
which they commanded. Severus marched to Rome, and, on 
his approach, the praetorians abandoned Didius, who had 
failed to pay the stipulated price for his elevation ; and the 
senate formally deposed and put him to death. Severus be- 
ing now master of Rome, prepared to reduce the provinces 
which had acknowledged the sovereignty of Niger and Al- 
binus. These two rivals were successively subdued. Niger 
was slain in battle, and Albinus fell by his own hands. The 
administration of Severus was wise and equitable, but tinc- 
tured with despotic rigour. It was his purpose to erect the 



426 ANCIENT HISTORY. fart i. 

fabric of absolute monarchy, and all his institutions operated 
with able policy to that end. He possessed eminent military 
talents. He gloriously boasted, that, having received the 
empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wars, he left it 
in profound, universal, and honourable peace. He carried 
with him into Britain his two sons, Caraealla and Geta, whose 
unpromising dispositions clouded his latter days. In this war 
the Caledonians under Fingal are said to have defeated, on 
the banks of the Carron, Caracul, the son of the king of the 
world. Severus died at York, in the 66th year of his age, af- 
ter a reign of eighteen years, A. D„ 211. 

6. The mutual hatred of Caraealla and Geta was increased 
by their association in the empire ; and the former, with bru- 
tal inhumanity, caused his brother to be openly murdered in 
the arms of his mother. His reign, which was of six years' 
duration, and one continued series of atrocities, was at length 
terminated by assassination, A. D. 217. 

7. Those disorders in the empire which began with Corn- 
modus continued for about a century, till the accession of 
Diocletian. That interval was filled by the reigns of Helio- 
gabalus, Alexander Severus, Maximin, Gordian, Deeius, 
Gallus, Valerianus, Gallienus, Claudius, Aurelianus, Tacitus, 
Probus, and Carus: a period of which the annals furnish 
neither amusement nor useful information. The single 
exception is the reign of Alexander Severus, a mild, benefi- 
cent, and enlightened prince, whose character shines the 
more from the contrast of those who preceded and followed 
him. 

8. Diocletian began his reign A. D. 284-, and introduced a 
new system of administration, dividing the empire into four 
governments, under as many princes, Maximian shared with 
him the title of Augustus, and Galerius and Constantius 
were declared Csesars. Each had his separate department 
or province, all nominally supreme, but in reality under the 
direction of the superior talents and authority of Diocletian : 
an unwise policy, which depended for its efficacy on indivi- 
dual ability alone. Diocletian and Maximian, trusting to 
the continuance of that order in the empire which their 
vigour had established, retired from sovereignty, and left the 



sect. 43. ANCIENT HISTORY 127 

government in the hands of the Csesars; but Constantius 
died soon after in Britain, and his son Constantine was pro- 
claimed emperor at York, though Galerius did not acknow- 
ledge his title. Maximian, however, having once more re- 
sumed the purple, bestowed on Constantine his daughter in 
marriage, and thus invested him with a double title to em- 
pire. On the death of Maximian and Galerius, Constantine 
had no other competitor but Maxentius, the son of the for- 
mer, and the contest between them was decided by the sword. 
Maxentius fell in battle, and Constantine remained sole 
master of the empire. 

9. The administration of Constantine was, in the beginning 
of his reign, mild, equitable, and politic. Though zealously 
attached to the christian faith, he made no violent innova- 
tions on the religion of the state. He introduced order and 
economy into the civil government, and repressed every spe- 
cies of oppression and corruption. But his natural temper 
Was severe and cruel, and the latter part of his reign was as 
much deformed by intolerant zeal and sanguinary rigour, as 
the former had been remarkable for equity and benignity* 
From this unfavourable change of character he lost the 
affections of his subjects ; and, from a feeling probably of 
reciprocal disgust, he removed the seat of the Roman empire 
to Byzantium, now termed Constantinople. The court fol- 
lowed the sovereign ; the opulent proprietors were attended 
by their slaves and retainers. In a few years Rome was 
greatly depopulated, and the new capital swelled at once to 
enormous magnitude. It was characterized by eastern splen- 
dour, luxury, and voluptuousness ; and the cities of Greece 
were despoiled for its embellishment. Of the internal policy 
of the empire we shall treat in the next section. In an ex- 
pedition against the Persians Constantine died atNicomedia, 
in the 30th year of his reign, and 63d of his age, A. D. 337. 
In the time of Constantine the Goths had made several 
irruptions on the empire, and, though repulsed and beaten, 
began gradually to encroach on the provinces. 



128 ANCIENT HISTORY. tart £ 

SECTION XL1V. 

STATE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OP 

CONSTANTINE. HIS SUCCESSORS, 

1. In lieu of the ancient republican distinctions, which 
were founded chiefly on personal merit, a rigid subordination 
®f rank and office now went through all the orders of the 
state. The magistrates were divided into three classes, 
distinguished by the unmeaning titles of, 1, the illustrious ; 
3, the respectable; 3, the clarissimi. The epithet of illustrious 
was bestowed on, 1, the consuls and patricians ; 2, the prseto- 
rian prefects of Rome and Constantinople ; 3, the masters- 
general of the cavalry and infantry ; 4, the seven ministers of 
the palace. The consuls were created by the sole authority 
of the emperor : their dignity was inefficient ; they had no 
appropriate function in the state, and their names served 
only to give the legal date to the year. The dignity of pa- 
trician was not, as in ancient times, a hereditary distinction ; 
but was bestowed by the emperor on his favourites, as a title 
of honour. From the time of the abolition of the praetorian 
bands by Constantine, the dignity of preetorian prsefect was 
conferred on the civil governors of the four departments of 
the empire. These were, the East, Illyria, Italy, and the 
Gauls. They had the supreme administration of justice and 
of the finances, the power of supplying all the inferior ma- 
gistracies in their district, and an appellative jurisdiction 
from ail its tribunals. Independent of their authority, Home 
and Constantinople had each its own prsefect, who was the 
chief magistrate of the city. In the second class, the re- 
spectable, were the proconsuls of Asia, Achaia, and Africa, 
and the military comites and duces, generals of the imperial 
armies. The third class, clarissimi, comprehended the infe- 
rior governors and magistrates of the provinces, responsible 
to the prsefect s and their deputies. 

2. The intercourse between the court and provinces was 
maintained by the construction of roads, and the institution 
of regular posts or couriers; under which denomination were 



sect. 44. ANCIENT HISTORY. 129 

ranked die numberless spies of government, whose duty was 
to convey all sort of intelligence from the remotest quarters 
of the empire to its chief seat. Every institution was calcu- 
lated to support the fabric of despotism. Torture was em- 
ployed for the discovery of crimes. Taxes and impositions 
of every kind were prescribed and levied by the sole autho- 
rity of the emperor. The quantity and rate were fixed by a 
census' made over all the provinces, and part was generally 
paid in money, part in the produce of the lands; a burden 
frequently found so grievous as to prompt to the neglect of 
agriculture. Every object of merchandize and manufacture 
was likewise highly taxed. Subsidies, moreover, under the 
name of free gifts, were exacted from all the cities, on 
various occasions of public concerns ; as the accession of an 
emperor, his consulate, the birth of a prince, a victory over 
the barbarians, or any other event of similar importance. 

3. An impolitic distinction was made between the troops 
stationed in the distant provinces and those in the heart of 
the empire. The latter, termed 'palatines, enjoyed a higher 
pay and more peculiar favour, and, having less employment, 
spent their time in idleness and luxury; while the former, 
termed the borderers, who, in fact, had the care of the em- 
pire, and were exposed to perpetual hard service, had, with 
an inferior reward, the mortification of feeling themselves 
regarded as of meaner rank than their fellow- soldiers. Con- 
stantino likewise, from a timid policy of guarding against 
mutinies of the troops, reduced the legion from its ancient 
complement of 5000, 6000, 7000, and 8000, to 1000 or 1500? 
and debased the body of the army by the intermixture of 
Scythians, Goths, and Germans. 

•*. This immense mass of heterogeneous parts, which 
internally laboured with the seeds of dissolution and corrup- 
tion, was kept together for some time by the vigorous exer- 
tion of despotic authority. The fabric was splendid and 
august ; but it wanted both that energy of constitution and 
that real dignity, which, in former times, it derived from the 
exercise of heroic and patriotic virtues. 

5. Constantine, with a destructive policy, had divided the 
empire among five princes, three of them his sons, and two 



ISO ANCIENT HISTORY. jcaet i- 

nephews; but Constantius, the youngest of the sons, finally 
got rid of all his competitors, and ruled the empire alone 
with a weak and impotent sceptre. A variety of domestic 
broils, and mutinies of the troops against their generals, had 
left the western frontier to the mercy of the barbarian na r 
tions. The Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, and Sarmatians, laid 
waste all the fme countries watered by the Rhine, and the 
Persians made dreadful incursions on the provinces of the 
east. Constantius indolently wasted his time in theological 
controversies, but was prevailed on to adopt one prudent 
measure, the appointment of his cousin Julian to the dignity 
of Caesar. 

6. Julian possessed many heroic qualities, and his mind 
was formed by nature for the sovereignty of a great people ; 
hut, educated at Athens, in the schools of the Platonic phi- 
losophy, he had unfortunately conceived a rooted antipathy 
to the doctrines of Christianity. Possessing every talent of 
a general, and the confidence and affection of his troops, 
he once more restored the glory of the Roman arms, and 
successfully repressed the invasions of the barbarians. 
His victories excited the jealousy of Constantius, who 
meanly resolved to remove from his command the better 
part of his troops. The consequence was, a declaration of 
the army, that Julian should be chosen their emperor. Con- 
stantius escaped the ignominy that awaited him by dying at 
this critical juncture, and Julian was immediately acknow- 
ledged sovereign of the Roman empire. 

7. The reformation of civil abuses formed the first object 
of his attention, which he next turned to the reformation, as 
he thought, of religion, by the suppression of Christianity. 
He began by reforming the pagan theology, and sought to 
raise the character of its priests, by inculcating purity of 
life and sanctity of morals; thus bearing involuntary testi- 
mony to the superior excellence, in those respects, of that 
religion which he laboured to abolish. Without persecuting, 
he attacked the christians by the more dangerous policy of 
treating them with contempt, and removing them, as vision- 
aries, from all employments of public trust. He refused 
them the benefit of the laws to decide their differences, be- 



^ect. 44. ANCIENT HISTORY. 131 

cause their religion forbade all dissensions ; and they were 
debarred the studies of literature and philosophy, which they 
could learn only from pagan authors. He was, as a pagan, 
the slave of the most bigoted superstition, believing in omens 
and auguries, and fancying himself favoured with an actual 
intercourse with the gods and goddesses. To avenge the 
injuries which the empire had sustained from the Persians, 
Julian marched into the interior of Asia, and was for some 
time in the train of conquest ; but at length was slain in a 
victorious battle, at the age of thirty-one, after a reign of 
three years, A. D. 363. 

S. The Roman army was dispirited by the death of its 
commander. They chose for their emperor Jovian, a captain 
of the domestic guards, and purchased a free retreat from 
the dominions of Persia by the ignominious surrender of five 
provinces, which had been ceded to Galerius by a former 
sovereign. The short reign of Jovian, a period of seven 
months, was mild and equitable. He favoured Christianity, 
and restored its votaries to all their privileges as subjects- 
He died suddenly at the age of thirty-three. 

9. On the death of Jovian, Yaleutinian was chosen em- 
peror by the army ; a man of obscure birth and severe man- 
ners, but of considerable military talents. He associated in 
the empire his brother Valens, to whom he gave the domi- 
nion of the eastern provinces, reserving to himself the wes- 
tern. The Persians, under Sapor, were making inroads on 
the former provinces ; and the latter were subject to conti- 
nual invasion from the northern barbarians, who were suc- 
cessfully repelled by Valentinian in. many battles. His 
domestic administration was wise, equitable, and politic. 
The christian religion was favoured by the emperor, though 
not promoted hy the persecution of its adversaries ; a con- 
trast to the conduct of his brother Yalens, who, intemperate- 
ly supporting the Arian heresy, set the whole provinces in a 
flame, and drew a swarm of invaders upon the empire, in the 
guise of friends and allies, who in the end entirely subverted 
it. Those were the Goths, who, migrating from Scandina- 
via, had settled, in the second century, on the banks of the 
Palus Mceotis, and had thence gradually extended their ter- 



132 ANCIENT HISTORY. part 1 

ritory. In tlie reign of Valens (hey took possession of Daeia, 
and were known by the distinct appellation of Ostrogoths and 
Visigoths, or eastern and western Goths; a remarkable peo- 
ple, whose manners, customs, government, and laws, will be 
afterward particularly described. 

10. Valentinian died on an expedition against the Aleman- 
ni, and was succeeded in the empire of the west by Gratian, 
his eldest son, a boy of sixteen years of age, A. D. 367. Va- 
lens, in the east, was the scourge of his people. The Huns, a 
new race of barbarians, of Tartar or Siberian origin, now 
poured down on the provinces both of the west and east. The 
Goths, comparatively a civilized people, fled before them. 
The Visigoths, who were first attacked, requested protection 
from the empire, and Valens imprudently gave them a settle- 
ment in Thrace. The Ostrogoths made the same request, 
and, on refusal, forced their way into Thrace. Valens gave 
them battle at Adrianople. His army was defeated, and he 
was slain in the engagement. The Goths, unresisted, ravaged 
Achaia anjd Pannonia. 

11. Gratian, a youth of great worth, but of little energy 
of character, assumed Theodosius as his colleague. On the 
early death of Gratian, and the minority of his son Valen- 
tinian II, Theodosius governed both the eastern and west- 
ern empire, with great ability. The character of Theodo- 
sius, deservedly surnamed the Great, was worthy of the best 
ages of the Roman state. He successfully repelled the en- 
croachments of the barbarians, and secured, by wholesome 
laws, the prosperity of his people. He died after a reign of 
eighteen years, assigning to his sons, Areadius and Honorius, 
the separate sovereignties of east and west, A. 13. 395. 

SECTION XLV. 

PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, FROM ITS INSTI- 
TUTION TO THE EXTINCTION OF PAGANISM IN THE REIGN 
OF THEODOSIUS. 

1. The reign of Theodosius was signalized by the downfal 
of the pagan superstition, and the full establishment of the 



sect. 45. ANCIENT HISTORY. i 3s 

christian religion in the Roman empire. This great revolu- 
tion of opinions is highly worthy of attention, and naturally 
induces a retrospect to the condition of the christian church, 
from its institution down to this period. 

It lias been frequently remarked (because it is an obvious 
truth), that at the time of our Saviour's birth a divine reve- 
lation seemed to be more peculiarly needed ; and that, from 
a concurrence of circumstances, the state of the world was 
then uncommonly favorable for the extensive dissemination 
of the doctines which it conveyed. The union of so many na- 
tions under one power, and the extension of civilization, were 
favourable to the progress of a religion which prescribed uni- 
versal charity and benevolence. The gross superstitions of 
paganism, and its tendency to corrupt the morals, contributed 
to explode its influence with every thinking mind. Even the 
prevalent philosophy of the times, epicurism, more easily un- 
derstood than the refinements of the Platonists, and more 
grateful than the severities of the Stoics, tended to degrade 
human nature to the level of the brute creation.* The chris- 
tian religion, thus necessary for the reformation of the world, 
found its chief partizans in the friends of virtue, and its ene- 
mies among the votaries of vice. v_ 

2. The persecution which the christians suffered from the 
Romans has been deemed an exception to that spirit of tole- 
ration which they showed to the religions of other nations : 
but they were tolerant only to those whose theologies were 
not hostile to their own. The religion of the Romans was in- 
terwoven with their political constitution. The zeal of the 
christians, aiming at the suppression of all idolatry, was natu- 
rally regarded as dangerous to the state ; and hence they were 
the object of hatred tind persecution. In the first century the 
christian church suffered deeply under Nero and Domitian . 
yet those persecutions had no tendency to check the progress 
of its doctrines. 

3. It is matter of question, what was the form of the primi- 
tive church, and the nature of its government; and on this 

* The genuine doctrines of Epicurus seem to be either misunderstood or mi*- 
i-epresented by certain authors. Editor. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. part ! 

Iiead much difference of opinion obtains, not only between the 
catholics and protestants, but between the different classes 
of the latter, as the Lutherans and Calvinists. It is moreover 
an opinion, that our Saviour and his apostles, confining their 
precepts to the pure doctrines of religion, have left all chris- 
tian societies to regulate their frame and government in the 
manner best suited to the civil constitutions of the countries 
in which they are established. 

4. In the second century the books of the New Testament 
were collected into a volume by the elder fathers of ih& 
church, and received as a canon of faith. The Old Testa- 
ment had been translated from the Hebrew into Greek, by 
order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 284 years before Christ. 
The early church suffered much from an absurd endeavour 
of the more learned of its votaries to reconcile its doctrines 
to the tenets of the pagan philosophers ; hence the sects of 
the Gnostics and Ammonians, and the Platonising christians. 
In the second century the Greek churches began to form 
provincial associations, and to establish general rules of 
government and discipline. Assemblies were held, termed 
synodal and concilia,, over which a metropolitan presided. 
A short time after arose the superior order of patriarch, pre- 
siding over a large district of the christian world; and a sub- 
ordination taking place even among these, the bishop of 
Home was acknowledged the chief of the patriarchs. Perse- 
cution still attended the early church, even under those ex- 
cellent princes, Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines ; and, in 
the reign of Severus, all the provinces of the empire were 
stained with the blood of the martyrs. 

5. The third century was more favourable to the progress 
of Christianity and the tranquillity of its disciples. Jn those 
times it suffered less from the civil power than from the pens 
of the pagan philosophers, Porphyry, Philostratus, &c. ; but 
those attacks called forth the zeal and talents of many able 
defenders, as Origen, Dionysius, and Cyprian. A part of 
the Gauls, Germany, and Britain, received the light of the 
gospel in this century. 

6. In the fourth century the christian church was alter- 
nately persecuted and cherished by the Roman emperors. 



3.6CT. 46. ANCIENT HISTORY. 135 

Among its oppressors we rank Diocletian, Galerius, and 
Julian ; among its favourers, Constantine and his sons, Val- 
entmi&n, Valens, Gratian, and the excellent Theodosius, in 
whose reign the pagan superstition was finally extinguished. 

6. From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian the Ro- 
mans preserved the regular succession of the several sacerdo- 
tal colleges, the pontiffs, augurs, vestals, flamines, salii, &c, 
whose authority, though weakened in the latter ages, was 
still protected by the laws. Even the christian emperors 
held, like their pagan predecessors, the office of pontifex 
maocimus, Gratian was the first who refused that ancient 
dignity as a profanation. In the time of Theodosius the 
cause of Christianity and of paganism was solemnly debated 
in the Roman senate, between Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, 
the champion of the former, and Symmachus, the defender 
of the latter. The cause of Christianity was triumphant, and 
the senate issued a decree for the abolition of paganism, whose 
downfal in the capital was soon followed by its extinction in 
the provinces. Theodosius, with able policy, permitted no 
persecution of the ancient religion, which perished with more 
rapidity because its fall was gentle and unresisted. 

8. But the christian church exhibited a superstition in 
some respects little less irrational than polytheism, in the 
worship of saints and relics ; and many novel tenets, un- 
founded in the precepts of our Saviour and his apostles, 
were manifestly borrowed from the pagan schools. The 
doctrines of the Platonic philosophy seem to have led to the 
notions of an intermediate state of purification, celibacy of 
the priests, ascetic mortifications, penances, and monastic 
seclusion. 



SECTION XLVI. 

EXTINCTION OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

i. In the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, the sons and 
successors of Theodosius, the barbarian nations established 
themselves in the frontier provinces both of the east and west. 



136 ANCIENT HISTORY. ?Aur t 

Theodosius had committed the government to Rufinus and 
Stilieho during the nonage of his sons ; and their fatal dis- 
sensions gave every advantage to the enemies of the empire. 
The Huns, actually invited by Rufinus, overspread Armenia, 
Cappadocia, and Syria. The Goths, under Alaric, ravaged 
to the borders of Italy, and laid waste Achaia to the Pelopon- 
nesus. Stilieho, an able general, made a noble resistance 
against those invaders ; but his plans were frustrated by the 
machinations of his. rivals, and the weakness of Arcadius, who 
purchased an ignominious peace, by ceding to Alaric the 
whole of Greece. 

2. Alaric, now styled king of the Visigoths, prepared to 
add Italy to his new dominions. He passed the Alps, and 
was every where successful, when the politic Stilieho, who 
then commanded the armies of Honorius, amusing him with 
the prospect of a new cession of territory, attacked his army 
unawares, and defeated it. On that occasion the emperor 
triumphantly celebrated the eternal defeat of the Gothic na- 
tion ; an eternity bounded by the lapse of a few months. In 
this interval, a torrent of the Goths breaking down upon 
Germany forced the nations whom they dispossessed, the 
Suevi, Alani, and Vandals, to precipitate themselves upon 
Italy. They joined their arms to those of Alaric, who, thus 
reinforced, determined to overwhelm Rome. The policy of 
Stilieho made him change his purpose, on the promise of 4000 
pounds weight of gold; a promise repeatedly broken by 
Honorius, and its violation finally revenged by Alaric, by the 
sack and plunder of the city, A. D. 410. With generous mag- 
nanimity he spared the lives of the vanquished, and, with 
singular liberality of spirit, was anxious to preserve every 
ancient edifice from destruction. 

3. Alaric, preparing now for the conquest of Sicily and 
Africa, died at this sera of his highest glory ; and Honorius, 
instead of profiting by this event to recover his lost pro- 
vinces, made a treaty with his successor Ataulfus, gave him 
in marriage his sister Placidia, and secured his friendship by 
ceding to him a portion of Spain, while a great part of what 
remained had been before occupied by the Vandals. Soon 
afterward he allowed to the Burgundiaus a just title to their 



sect, 46. ANCIENT HISTORY. 137 

conquests In Gaul. Thus the western empire was passingby 
degrees from the dominion of its ancient masters. 

4. The mean and dissolute Areadius died in the year 408, 
leaving the eastern empire to Ids infant son Theodosius II. 
Theodosius was a weak prince, and his sister Pulcheria 
governed the empire, with prudence and ability, for the space 
of forty years. Honorius died in the year 423. The laws of 
Areadius and Honorius are, with a few exceptions, remark- 
able for their wisdom and equity ; which is a singular cir- 
cumstance, considering the personal character of those prin- 
ces, and evinces at least that they employed some able mi- 
nisters. 

5. The Vandals, under Genseric, subdued the Roman pro- 
vince in Africa. The Huns, in the east, extended their con- 
quests from the borders of China to the Baltic sea. Under 
Attila they laid waste Mcesia and Thrace ; and Theodosius, 
after a mean attempt to murder the barbarian general, 
ingloriously submitted to pay him an annual tribute. It was 
in this crisis of universal decay that the Britons implored the 
Romans to defend them against the Picts and Scots, and 
received for answer, that they had nothing to bestow on them 
but compassion. The Britons, in despair, sought aid from 
the Saxons and Angles, who seized, as their property, the 
country which they were invited to protect, and founded, ia 
the fifth and sixth centuries, the kingdoms of the Saxon hep- 
tarchy. (See Part II, Sect. XII, §5.) 

6. Attila, with an army of 500000 men, threatened the 
total destruction of the empire. He was ably opposed by 
JB tius, general of Valentinian III, now emperor of the west. 
Valentinian was shut up in Rome by the arms of the bar- 
barian, and at length compelled to purchase a peace. On the 
death of Attila his dominions were dismembered by his sons, 
whose dissensions gave temporary relief to the falling empire 
of Rome. 

7. After Valentinian III, we have in the west a succession 
of princes, or rather names, for the events of their reigns 
merit no detail. In the reign of Romulus, surnamed Angus- 
tulus, the son of Orestes, the empire of the west came to a 



138 ANCIENT HISTORY. part s. 

final period. Odoacer, prince of the Heruli, subdued Italy, 
and spared the life of Augustulus, on condition of his resign- 
ing the throne, A. D. 4,76. From the building of Rome to the 
extinction of the western empire, A. D. 476, is a period of 
1224 years. 

8. We may reduce to one ultimate cause the various cir- 
cumstances that produced the decline and fall of this once 
magnificent fabric. The ruin of the Roman empire was the 
inevitable consequence of its greatness. The extension of 
its dominion relaxed the vigour of its frame ; the vices of the 
conquered nations infected the victorious legions, and foreign 
luxuries corrupted their commanders ; selfish interest sup- 
planted the patriotic affection ; the martial spirit was pur- 
posely debased by the emperors, who dreaded its effects on 
their own power; and the whole mass, thus weakened and 
enervated, fell an easy, prey to the torrent of barbarians which 
overwhelmed it. 

9. The Herulian dominion in Italy was of short duration, 
Theodoric, prince of the Ostrogoths (afterward deservedly 
surnamed the Great), obtained permission of Zeno, emperor 
of the east, to attempt the recovery of Italy, and a promise of 
its sovereignty as the reward of his success. The whole na- 
tion of the Ostrogoths attended the standard of Theodoric, 
who was victorious in repeated engagements, and at length 
compelled Odoacer to surrender all Italy to the conqueror. 
The Romans had tasted happiness under the government of 
Odoacer ; but their happiness was increased under the domi- 
nion of Theodoric, who possessed every talent ^ind virtue of 
a' sovereign. His equity and clemency rendered him a bles- 
sing to his subjects. He allied himself with all the sur- 
rounding nations, the Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, and 
Yandals. He left a peaceable sceptre to his grandson Atha- 
laric, during whose infancy his mother Amalasonte govern- 
ed with such admirable wisdom and moderation, as left her 
subjects no real cause of regret for the loss of her father. 

10. While such was the state of Gothic Italy, the empire 
of the east was under the government of Justinian, a prince of 
mean ability, vain, capricious, and tyrannical. Yet the Ro- 
man name rose for a while from its abasement bv the rcerit 



ect. 46. ANCIENT HISTORY. 139 

of his generals. Belisarius was the support of his throne ; 
yet Justinian treated him with the most shocking ingratitude, 
The Persians were at this time the most formidable enemies 
of the empire, under their sovereigns Cahadcs and Cosrhoes; 
and from the latter, a most able prince, Justinian meanly 
purchased a peace, by a cession of territory, and an enormous 
tribute in gold. The civil factions of Constantinople, arising 
from the most contemptible of causes, the disputes of the 
performers in the circus and amphitheatre, threatened to 
hurl Justinian from the throne, but were fortunately compo- 
sed by the arms and the policy of Belisarius. This great 
general overwhelmed the Vandal sovereignty of Africa, and 
recovered that province to the empire. He wrested Italy 
from its Gothic sovereign, and once more restored it for a 
short time to the dominion of its ancient masters. 

11. Italy was again subdued by the Goths under the heroic 
Totila, who besieged and took the city of Rome, but forebore 
to destroy it at the request of Belisarius. The fortunes of 
Belisarius were now in the wane. He was compelled to 
evacuate Italy, and, on his return to Constantinople, his long 
services were repaid with disgrace. He was superseded in 
the command of the armies by the eunuch Narses, who de- 
feated Totila in a decisive engagement, in which the Gothic 
prince was slain. Narses governed Italy with great ability 
for thirteen years, when he was ungratefully recalled by Jus- 
tin II, the successor of Justinian. He invited the Lombards 
to avenge his injuries; and this new tribe of invaders overran 
and conquered the country, A. D. B68. 



SECTION XL VII. 

OF THE ORIGIN, MANNERS, AND CHARACTER OF THE GOTHIC 
NATIONS, BEFORE THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN 
EMPIRE. 

1. The history and manners of the Gothic nations are cu- 
rious objects of inquiry, from their influence on the consti- 
tutions and national character of most of the modern king- 



±10 ANCIENT HISTORY, part i. 

doms of Europe. As the present inhabitants of those king- 
doms are a mixed race, compounded of Goths, and of the na- 
tions whom they subdued, the laws, manners, and institu- 
tions of the modern kingdoms are the result of this conjunc- 
tion; and so far as these are different from the usages pre- 
valent before this intermixture, they are, in all probability, 
to be traced from the ancient manners and institutions of 
those northern tribes. We purpose to consider the original 
character of the Gothic nations, and the change of their man- 
ners on their establishment in the Roman empire. 

2. The Scandinavian chronicles attribute to the ancient in- 
habitants of that country an Asiatic origin, and inform us 
that the Goths were a colony of Scythians, who migrated 
thither from the banks of the Black sea and the Caspian : 
but those chronicles do not fix the period of this migration, 
which some later writers suppose to have been 1000 years, 
and others only 70, before the christian sera. Odin, the ekief 
deity of the Scandinavians, was the god of the Scythians. 
Sigga, a Scythian prince, is said to have undertaken a distant 
expedition, and, after he had subdued several of the Sarma- 
tian tribes, to have penetrated into the northern parts of Ger- 
many, and thence into Scandinavia. He assumed the honours 
of divinity, and the title of Odin, his national god. He conquer- 
ed Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and gave wise and salu- 
tary laws to the nations which he had subdued by his arms. 

3. The agreement in manners between the Scythians and 
the ancient Scandinavian nations corroborates the accounts 
given in the northern chronicles of the identity of their ori- 
gin. The description of the manners of the Germans by 
Tacitus (though this people was probably not of Scythian, 
but of Celtic origin) may, in many particulars, be applied to 
the ancient nations of Scandinavia ; and the same description 
coincides remarkably with the account given by Herodotus 
of the manners of the Scythians. Their life was spent in 
iiunting, pasturage, and predatory war. Their dress, their 
weapons, their food, their respect for their women, their 
religious worship, were the same. They despised learning, 
and had no other records for many ages than the songs of 
their bards. 



sect. 47. ANCIENT HISTORY. 141 

4*. The theology of the Scandinavians was most intimately 
connected with their manners. They held three great prin- 
ciples or fundamental doctrines of religion : " To serve the 
Supreme Being with prayer and sacrifice ; to do no wrong or 
unjust action ; and to be intrepid in fight." These principles 
are the key to the Edda, or sacred book of the Scandina- 
vians, which, though it contains the substance of a very an- 
cient religion, is not a work of high antiquity, being compiled 
in the thirteenth century by Snorro Sturlcson, supreme judge 
of Iceland. Odin, characterized as the terrible and severe 
god, the father of carnage, the avenger, is the principal deity 
of the Scandinavians ; from whose union with Frea, the hea- 
venly mother, sprung various subordinate divinities ; as Thor, 
who perpetually wars against Loke and his evil giants, who 
envy the power of Odin, and seek to destroy his works. 
Among the inferior deities are the virgins of the Valhalla, 
whose office is to minister to the heroes in paradise. The 
favourites of Odin are all who die in battle, or, what is equal- 
ly meritorious, by their own hand. The timid wretch, who 
allows himself to perish by disease or age, is unworthy of the 
joys of paradise. These joys are, fighting, ceaseless slaugh- 
ter, and drinking beer out of the skulls of their enemies, with 
a renovation of life, to furnish a perpetuity of the same plea- 
sures. 

5. As the Scandinavians believed this world to be the work 
of some superior intelligences, so they held all nature to be 
constantly under the regulation of an almighty will and 
power, and subject to a fixed and unalterable destiny. These 
notions had a wonderful effect on the national manners, and 
on the conduct of individuals. The Scandinavian placed his 
sole delight in war : he entertained an absolute contempt 
of danger and of death, and his glory was estimated by the 
number which he had slain in battle. The death-song of 
Megner Lodbrok, who comforts himself in his last agonies by 
recounting all the acts of carnage which he had committed in 
his life time, is a faithful picture of the Scandinavian charac- 
ter. 

6. "We have remarked the great similarity of the manners 
of the Scandinavians and the ancient Germans. Those na- 



£j,2 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

lions seem, however, to have had a different origin. The 
Germans, as well as the Gauls, were branches of that great 
original nation termed Celtce, who inhabited most of the 
countries of Europe south of the Baltic, before they were 
invaded by the northern tribes from Scandinavia. The Celtse 
were all of the druidical religion, a system different from the 
belief and worship of the Scandinavians, but founded nearly 
on the same principles; and the Goths, in their progress, in- 
termixing with the Germans, could not fail to adopt, in part, 
the notions of a kindred religion. Druidism acknowledged a 
god who delighted in bloodshed, taught the immortality of 
the soul, and inculcated the contempt of danger and of death. 
Tacitus remarks that the ancient Germans had neither tem- 
ples nor idols. The open air was the temple of the divinity* 
and a consecrated grove the appropriated place for prayer 
and sacrifice, which none but the priests were allowed to 
enter. The chief sacrifices were human victims, most pro- 
bably the prisoners taken in Avar. The druids heightened the 
sanctity of their character by concealing the mysteries of 
their worship. They had the highest influence over the 
minds of the people, and thus found it easy to conjoin a civil 
authority with the sacerdotal; a policy which in the end led 
to the destruction of the druidical system ; for the Romans 
found no other way of securing their conquests over any of 
the Celtic nations but by exterminating the druids. 

7. Whatever difference of manners there may have been 
among the various nations or tribes of Gothic origin, the 
great features of their character appear to have been the 
same. Nature, education, and prevailing habits, all concur- 
red to form them for an intrepid and conquering people. 
Their bodily frame was invigorated by the climate which 
they inhabited ; they were inured to danger and fatigue ; 
war was their habitual occupation : they believed in an unal- 
terable destiny, and were taught by their religion that a 
heroic sacrifice of life gave certain assurance of eternal hap- 
piness. How could a race of men so characterized fail to be 
the conquerors of the world ? 



sect. 48. ANCIENT HISTORY 145 

SECTION XLYIII. 

OF THE MANNERS, XAWS, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE GOTHIC 
NATIONS, AFTER THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN 
EMPIRE. 

1. It has been erroneously supposed that the same feroeity 
of manners, which distinguished the Goths in their original 
seats, attended their successors in their new establishments 
in the provinces of the Roman empire. Modern authors 
have given a currency to this false supposition. Voltaire, 
in describing the middle ages, paints the Goths in all the 
characters of horror ; as " a troop of hungry wolves, foxes, 
and tigers, driving before them the scattered timid herds, 
and involving all in ruin and desolation." The accounts of 
historians most worthy of credit will dissipate this injurious 
prejudice, and show those northern nations in a more favour- 
able point of view, as not unworthy to be the successors of 
the Romans. 

2. Before their settlement in the southern provinces of 
Europe, the Goths were no longer idolaters, but christians ; 
and their morality was suitable to the religion which they 
professed. Salvianus, bishop of Marseilles, in the fifth cen- 
tury, draws a parallel between the manners of the Goths and 
of the Romans, highly to the credit of the former. Grotius, 
in his publication of Procopius and Jornandes, remarks, as a 
strong testimony to their honourable character as a nation, 
that no province once subdued by the Goths ever voluntarily 
withdrew itself from their government. 

3. It is not possible to produce a more beautiful picture of 
an excellent administration than that of the Gothic monar- 
chy in Italy under Theodoric the Great. Though master of 
the country by conquest, yet he was regarded by his subjects 
with the affection of a native sovereign. He retained the 
Roman laws, and, as nearly as possible, the ancient political 
regulations. In supplying all civil offices of state he prefer- 
red the native Romans. It was his care to preserve every mo- 
nument of the ancient grandeur of the empire, and to embel- 



144 ANCIENT HISTORY. *ARx t 

lish the cities by new works of beauty and utility. In the im- 
position and levying of taxes, he showed the most humane in- 
dulgence on every occasion of scarcity or calamity. His laws 
were dictated by the most enlightened prudence and benevo- 
lence, and framed on that principle which he nobly inculcated 
in his instructions to the Roman senate, "Benigni principis 
est, non tarn delicto, velle punire, quam tollcre" It is the duty 
of a benign prince to be disposed to prevent, rather than to pu- 
nish offences. The historians of those times delight in re- 
counting the examples of his munificence and humanity. Par- 
tial as he was to the Arian heresy, many even of the catho- 
lic fathers have done the most ample justice to his merits, 
acknowledging that, under his reign, the church enjoyed a 
high measure of prosperity. Such was Theodoric the Great, 
who is justly termed by Sidonius Apollinaris, Romano? decus 
columenque gentis (the glory and the support of the Roman 
nation.) 

4. But a single example could not warrant a general infer- 
ence with regard to the merits of a whole people. The exam- 
ple of Theodoric is not single. If his character does not find 
a complete parallel, it is at least nearly approached in the 
similar characters of Alaric, Amalasonte, and Totila. Alaric, 
compelled by his enemy's breach of faith to revenge himself 
by the sack of Rome, showed even in that revenge a noble 
example of humanity. No blood was shed without necessity ; 
the churches were inviolable asylums; the honour of the 
women was preserved; the treasures of the city were saved 
IVom plunder. Amalasonte, the daughter ©f Theodoric, re- 
paired to her subjects the loss of her father, by the equity 
and wisdom of her administration. She trained her son to 
the study of literature and of every polite accomplishment, 
as the best means of reforming and enlightening his people. 
Totila, twice master of Rome, which he won by his arms af- 
ter an obstinate resistance, imitated the example of Alaric in 
his clemency to the vanquished, and in his care to preserve 
every remnant of ancient magnificence from destruction. He 
restored the senate to its authority, adorned Rome with use- 
ful edifices, regulated its internal policy, and took a noble 



sect. 48. ANCIENT HISTORY. 145 

pride in reviving the splendour and dignity of the empire. 
Habitavit cum Momanis, says a cotemporary author, tanquam 
pater cum JIUis. He lived with the Romans as a father with 
his children. 

5. The stem of the Gothic nation divided itself into two 
great branches, the Ostrogoths, who remained in Pannonia, 
and the Westrogoths or Visigoths, so termed, because they 
migrated thence to the west of Europe. Italy was possessed by 
the latter under Alaric, and by the former under Theodoric. 
After the death of Alaric, the Visigoths withdrew into Gaul, 
and obtained from Honorius the province of Aquitaine, of 
which Thoulouse was the capital. When expelled from that 
province by the Franks, they crossed the Pyrenees, and, set- 
tling in Spain, made Toledo the capital of their kingdom. 
The race of the Visigoth princes was termed the Balti, that 
of the Ostrogoths the JLmali. The Ostrogoths enforced in 
their dominions the observance of the Roman laws,- the Visi- 
goths adhered to a code compiled by their own sovereigns, 
and founded on the ancient manners and usages of their na- 
tions. From this code, therefore, we may derive much in- 
formation relative to the genius and character of this ancient 
people. 

6. It is enacted by the laws of the Visigoths that no judge 
shall decide in any lawsuit, unless he find in that book a law 
applicable to the ease. All causes that fall not under this de- 
scription are reserved for the decision of the sovereign. The 
penal laws are severe, but tempered with great equity. No 
punishment can affect the heirs of the criminal : Omnia cri- 
mina suos sequantur auctores.—et ille solus judicetur culpa- 
bilis, qui culpanda commiserit, et crimen cum Mo qui fecerit 
moriatur. Ml crimes shall attach to their authors, — and he 
alone shall be judged culpable, who hath committed offences, 
and the crime shall die with him ivho hath committed it. Death 
was the punishment of the murder of a freeman, and perpe- 
tual infamy of the murder of a slave. Pecuniary fines were 
enacted for various subordinate offences, according to their 
measure of criminality. An adulterer was delivered in bon- 
dage to the injured husband; and the free woman who had 
committed adultery with a married man, became the slave of 

T 



-f 46 ANCIENT HISTORY. Har i- 

his wife. No physician was allowed to visit a female patient, 
except in the presence of her nearest kindred. The lex ta- 
lionis (the law of retaliation) was in great observance for 
such injuries as admitted it. This law was even carried so 
far, that the incendiary of a house was burnt alive. The 
trials by judicial combat, by ordeal, and by the judgment of 
God, which were in frequent use among the Franks and Nor- 
mans, had no place among the Visigoths. Montesquieu has 
erroneously asserted, that in all the Gothic nations it was 
usual to judge the litigants by the law of their own country; 
the Roman by the Roman law, the Frank by the law of the 
Franks, the Aleman by the law of the Alemans. On the con- 
trary, the Visigoth code prohibits the laws of all other na- 
tions within their territories. Nolumus sire Momanis legions,, 
sive alienis institutionibus, amplius convexari. We will not 
be controuled by the Roman laics, nor by foreign institu- 
tions. The laws of the Franks and Lombards are remarka- 
ble for their wisdom and judicious policy. 

7. The government of the Goths, after their settlement in 
the Roman provinces, was monarchical. It was at first elec- 
tive, and afterward became hereditary. The sovereign on his 
death-bed appointed his successor, with the advice or consent 
of his grandees. Illegitimacy did not disqualify from succes- 
sion or nomination to the throne. 

8. The dukes and counts were the chief officers under the 
Gothic government. The duke (dux exercitus) Mas the com- 
mander in chief of the troops of the province ; the count 
(comes) was the highest civil magistrate. But these offices 
frequent] y intermixed their functions, the count being em- 
powered, on sudden emergencies, to assume a military com- 
mand, and the duke, on some occasions, warranted to exercise 
judicial authority. In general, however, their departments 

were distinct. Of comites there were various orders, with 
distinct official powers; as, comes cubiculi, chamberlain, comes 
slabuliy constable, &c. These various officers were the jjro- 
ceres, or grandees of the kingdom, by whose advice the 
sovereign conducted himself in important matters of govern- 
ment, or in the nomination of his successor ; but we do not 
find that they had a voice in the framing of laws, or in the 



sect. 49. ANCIENT HISTORY. I47 

imposition of taxes. The prince had the sole nomination to 
all offices of government, magistracies, and dignities. 



SECTION XLIX. 

METHOD OF STUDYING ANCIENT HISTORY* 

1. A general and concise view of ancient history may be 
acquired by the perusal of a very few books ; as that part of 
the Cours d' Etude of the Abbe Condillac which regards the 
history of the nations of antiquity ; the Elements of General 
History by the Abbe Millot, part 1st ; the Epitome of Tur- 
selline, with the notes of L'Agneau, part 1st ; or the excel- 
lent Compendium Historice Universalis^ by professor Offer- 
haus of Groningen, The first two of these works have the 
merit of uniting a spirit of reflection with a judicious selec- 
tion of events. The notes of L'Agneau to the Epitome of 
Turselline contain a great store of geographical and bio- 
graphical information. The work of Offerhausis peculiarly 
valuable, as uniting sacred with profane history, and contain- 
ing most ample references to the ancient authors. The Bis- 
cours sur VHistoire Univcrselle, by the bishop of Meaux, is 
a work of high merit, but is not adapted to convey informa- 
tion to the uninstrueted. It is more useful to those who 
have already studied history in detail, for uniting in the mind 
the great current of events, and recalling to the memory their 
order and connection. 

But the student, who wishes to derive the most complete 
advantage from history, must not confine himself to such 
general or compendious views ; he must resort to the origi- 
nal historians of ancient times, and to the modern writers 
who have treated with amplitude of particular periods. It 
may be useful to such students to point out the order in which 
those historians may be most profitably perused. 

2. Next to the historical books of the Old Testament, the 
most ancient history worthy of perusal is that of Herodotus, 
which comprehends the annals of JLydia, Ionia, Lycia, Egypt* 



148 ANCIENT HISTORY. part i. 

Persia, Greece, and Macedonia, during above 230 years pre- 
ceding 479 A. C. 

Book 1. History of Lydia from Gyges to Croesus. Ancient 
Ionia. Manners of the Persians, Babylonians, &c. History of 
Cyrus the Elder. 

B. 2. History of Egypt, and Manners of the Egyptians. 

B. 3. History of Cambyses. Persian Monarchy under 
Darius Hystaspes. 

B. 4. History of Scythia. 

B. 5. Persian Embassy to Macedon. Athens, Lacedsemon, 
Corinth, at the same period. 

B. 6. Kings of Lacedsemon. War of Persia against Greece, 
to the battle of Marathon. 

B. 7. The same War, to the battle of Thermopylae. 

B. 8. The Naval Battle of Salamis. 

B. 9. The Defeat and Expulsion of the Persians from 
Greece. 

(The merits of Herodotus are shortly characterized in 
Sect. XXII, §1). 

3. A more particular account of the periods treated by 
Herodotus may be found in Justin, lib. 1, 2, 3, and 7 ; in the 
Cyropedia of Xenophon ; in the Lives of Aristides, Themis- 
tocles, Cimon, Militiades, and Pausanias, written by Plutarch 
and Cornelius Nepos ; and in the Lives of Anaximander, 
Zeno, Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Democritus, by Diogenes 
Laertius. 

4. The Grecian history is taken up by Thucydides from 
the period where Herodotus ends, and is continued for seventy 
years, to the twenty-first of the Peloponnesian war. (This 
work characterized, Sect. XXII, § 2). This period is more 
amply illustrated by perusing the 11th and 12th books of 
Diodorus Siculus ; the Lives of Alcibiades, Chabrias, Thra- 
sybulus, and Lysias, by Plutarch and Nepos ; the 2d, 3d, 4th, 
and 5th books of Justin; and the 14th and 15th chapters of 
the 1st book of Orosius. 

5. Next to Thucydides the student ought to peruse the 1st 
and 2d books of Xenophon's History of Greece, which com- 
prehends the narrative of the Peloponnesian war, with the 
cotemporary history of the Medes and Persians ; then the 



sect. 49. AKCIENT HISTORY. ±^g 

Expedition of Cyrus (JLnabasis), and the continuation of the 
history to its conclusion with the battle of Mantinea. (Xeno*. 
phon characterized, Sect. XXII, § 3). For illustrating this 
period we have the Lives of Lysander, Agesilaus, Artaxerxes, 
Conon, and Datames, by Plutarch and Nepos j the 4th, 5th, 
and 6 th books of Justin ; and the 13th and 14th books of 
Diodorus Sicujus. 

6. After Xenophon let the student read the 15th and 16th 
books of Diodorus, which contain the history of Greece and 
Persia, from the battle of Mantinea to the reign of Alex- 
ander the Great. (Diodorus characterized, Sect. XXII, 
§ 5). To complete this period let him read the Lives of Dion, 
Iphicrates, Timotheus, Phocion, and Timoleon, by Nepos. 

7. For the history of Alexander the Great we have the 
admirable works of Arrian and Quintus Curtius. (Arriaa 
characterized, Sect. XXII, § 8). Curtius possesses great 
judgment in the selection of facts, with much elegance and 
perspicuity of diction. He is a good moralist and a good 
patriot ; but his passion for embellishment derogates from 
the purity of history, and renders his authority suspicious. 

8. For the continuation of the histoy of Greece from the 
death of Alexander we have the 18th, 19th, and 20th books 
of Diodorus ; the history of Justin from the 13th book to 
the end; and the Lives of the principal personages written 
by Plutarch. The history of Justin is a judicious abridg- 
ment of a much larger work by Trogus Pompeius, which is 
lost. Justin excels in the delineation of characters, and in 
purity of style. 

9. I have mentioned the Lives of Plutarch and Cornelius 
Nepos as the best supplement to the account of particular 
periods of ancient history. It is the highest praise of Plu- 
tarch, that his writings are admirable for their morality, and 
furnish instructive lessons of active virtue. He makes us 
familiarly acquainted with the great men of antiquity, and 
chiefly delights in painting their private character and man- 
ners. The short Lives written by Nepos show great judg- 
ment, and a happy selection of such facts as display the genius 
and character of his heroes. They are written with great 
purity and elegance. 



150 ANCIENT HISTQM. part i. 

10. For the Roman history in its early periods we have 
the Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, which bring 
down the history of Home to 412 A. U. C. They are chiefly 
valuable, as illustrating the manners and customs, the rites 
civil and religious, and the laws of the Roman state. But 
the writer is too apt to frame hypotheses, and to give views 
instead of narratives. We expect these in the modern wri- 
ters who treat of ancient times, but cannot tolerate them in 
the sources of history. 

11. The work of Livy is far more valuable than that of 
Dionysius. It is a perfect model of history, both as to mat- 
ter and composition. (Characterized, Sect. XXXVI, § 10.) 
Of 132 books only 35 remain, and those are interrupted by a 
considerable chasm. The first decade (or ten books) treats 
of a period of 460 years ; the second decade, containing se- 
venty-five years, is lost j the third contains the second Punic 
war, including eighteen years ; the fourth contains the war 
against Philip of Macedon, and the Asiatic war against Anti- 
ochus, a space of twenty-three years. Of the fifth decade 
there are only five books ; and the remainder, which reaches 
to the death of Drusus, 746 A. U. C, together with the 
second decade, have been supplied by Freinshemius. To 
supply the chasm of the second decade, the student ought to 
read, together with the epitome of those lost books, the first 
and second books of Polybius ; the 17th, 18th, 22d, and 23d 
books of Justin ; the lives of Marcellus and Fabius Maximus 
by Plutarch | and the Punic and Illyrian wars by Appian. 

12. The history of Polybius demands a separate and atten- 
tive perusal, as an admirable compendium of political and 
military instruction. Of forty books of general history we 
have only five entire, and excerpts of the following twelve. 
Polybius treats of the history of the Romans, and of the na- 
tions with whom they were at war, from the beginning of 
the second Punic war to the beginning of the war with Mace- 
donia, comprising in all a period of about fifty years. Of the 
high estimation in which Polybius was held by the authors 
of antiquity we have sufficient proof, in the encomiums be- 
stowed on him by Cicero, Strabo, Josephus, and Plutarch ; 
and in the use which Livy has made of his history, in adopt- 



sect. 49, ANCIENT HISTORY. 151 

lug his narratives, in many parts of his work, by a translation 
nearly literal. 

13. The work of Appian, which originally consisted of 
twenty books, from the earliest period of the Roman history 
down to the age of Adrian, is greatly mutilated; and there 
remains only his account of the Syrian, Parthian, Mithrida- 
tic, Bpanish, Punic, and Illyrian wars. His narrative of each 
of these wars is remarkably distinct and judicious ; and his 
composition, on the whole, is chaste and perspicuous. After 
the history of Appian the student should resume Livy, from 
the beginning of the third decade, or 21st book, to the end. 
Then he may peruse with advantage the Lives of Hannibal, 
Scipio Afrieanus, Flaminius, Paulus iEmilius, the elder 
Cato, the Gracchi, Marius, Sylla, the younger Cato, Serto- 
rius, Lueullus, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Pompey, and Brutus, 
by Plutarch. 

14*. Sallust's histories of the Jugurthine war and of the 
conspiracy of CataSine come next in order. (Sallust charac- 
terized, Sect. XXXVI, § 8.) Then follow the Commentaries 
of Cajsar, remarkable for perspicuity of narration, and a 
happy union of brevity with elegant simplicity of style. 
(Sect. XXXVI, § 9.) The epitomes of Florus and of Vel- 
leius Paterculus may be perused with advantage at this pe- 
riod of the course. The latter is a model for abridgment of 
history. 

15. For the history of Rome under the first emperors we 
have Suetonius and Tacitus; and for the subsequent reigns, 
the series of the ( minor historians, termed Eistoiiae Jlugustcz 
Scriptores (writers of august history) and the Byzantine wri- 
ters. Suetonius gives us a series of detached characters, 
illustrated by an artful selection ot' facts and anecdotes, 
rather than a regular history. His work is chiefly valuable 
as descriptive of Roman manners. His genius has too much 
of the caustic humour of a satirist. Tacitus, with greater 
powers and deeper penetration, has drawn a pieture of the 
times in stern and gloomy colours. (Sect. XXXVI, § 11.) 
From neither of these historians will the ingenuous mind of 
youth receive moral improvement, or pleasing and benevolent 



452 ANCIENT HISTORY. *art t. 

impressions ; yet we cannot deny their high utility to the 
student of politics. 

16. If we except Herodian, who wrote with taste and judg- 
ment, it is doubtful whether any of the subsequent writers of 
the Roman history deserve a minute perusal. It is therefore 
advisable for the student to derive his knowledge of the his- 
tory of the decline and fall of the Roman empire from mo- 
dern authors, resorting to the original writers only for occa- 
sional information on detached points of importance. For 
this purpose, the General History by Dr. Howel is a work of 
great utility, being written entirely on the basis of the origi- 
nal historians, whose narrative he generally translates, refer- 
ring constantly to his authorities in the margin. In this 
work the student will find a valuable mass of historical infor- 
mation. 

17. The reader, having thus founded his knowledge of ge- 
neral history on the original writers, will now peruse with 
great advantage the modern histories of ancient Greece and 
Rome hy Mitford, Gillies, Gast, Hooke, Gibbon, and Fergus- 
son ; and will find himself qualified to form a just estimate of 
their merits, on which it is presumptuous to decide without 
such preparatory knowledge. 

18. The greatest magazine of historical information which 
has ever been collected into one body is the English Univer- 
sal History ; a most useful work, from the amplitude of its 
matter, its general accuracy, and constant reference to the 
original authors. We may occasionally consult it with great 
advantage on points where deep research is necessary ; but 
we cannot read it with pleasure as a continued work, from 
its tedious details and harshness of style, its abrupt transi- 
tions, and the injudicious arrangement of many of its parts. 

19. Geography and chronology have been justly termed 
the lights of history. We cannot peruse with advantage the 
historical annals of any country without a competent know- 
ledge of its geographical situation, and even of its particular 
topography. In reading the description of any event the 
Blind necessarily forms a picture of the scene of action ; and 
it is surely better to draw the picture with truth from nature 
and reality, than falsely from imagination. Many actions 



sect. 49. ANCIENT HISTORY 1^3 

and events are likewise intimately connected with the geo- 
graphy and local circumstances of a country, and are unin- 
telligible without a knowledge of them. 

20. The use of chronological tables is very great, both for 
the purpose of uniting in one view the cotemporary events in 
different nations, which often have an influence on one ano- 
ther, and for recalling to the memory the order and series of 
events, and renewing the impressions of the objects of former 
study. It is extremely useful, after perusing the history of 
a nation in detail, or that of a certain age or period, to run 
over briefly the principal occurrences in a table of chrono- 
logy. The most perfect works of this kind are, the chrono- 
logical tables of Dr. Playfair, which unite history and 
biography; the tables of Dr. Blair; or the older tables by 
Tallent.* 

* A list of the best translations of the principal books above mentioned, 
Herodotus, translated by Beloe, 4 vols. 8vo. 
Xenophon's Cyropedia, by Cooper, 8vo. 
Xenophon's Anabasis, by Spelman, 2 vols. 8vo. 
Xenophon's History of Greece, by Smith, 4to. 

Plutarch, by Langhorne, 6 vols. 8vo., or 6 vols. 12mo. Wrangham's edition. 
Thucydides, by Smith, 2 vols. 8vo. 
Dionysius Halicarnassus, by Spelman, 4 vols. 4to, 
Polybius, by Hampton, 4 vols. 8vo. 
Livy, by Baker, 6 vols. 8vo. 

Sallust, by Murphy, 8vo. ; by Steuart, 2 vols. 4to.; by Rose, 8vo. 
Tacitus, by Murphy, 8 vols. 8vo. ; Irish edition, 4 vols. 8vo. 
Suetonius, by Thompson, 8vo. 
Diodorus Siculus, by Booth, folio. 
Arrian, by Rook, 2 vols. 8vo. 
Q. Curtius, by Digby, 2 vols. 12mo. 
Justin, by Turnbull, 12mo. 

Editor, 



END OF PART FIRST. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW 



OF 



ANCIENT AND MODERN 



GEOGRAPHY. 



In the following Tables the Countries unknown to the Ancients? 

or of which the Names are uncertain, are left blank. 
The same numbers in the two adjacent columns on each page 

indicate the ancient and modern names of the same countries 

or places. 



MODERJN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE 

GREENLAND, or the Arctic 

Continent 
SPITSBERGEN (Island) 
ICELAND (Island) belonging 

to Norway 

NORWAY. SCANDINAVIA, SCANDIA, 

1. Wardhuis, or Norwegian Lap- vel BALTIA. 

land 

2. Drontheim 2. Nerigon 

3. Bergen 3. Sitones 

4. Aggerhuis, or Christiana 



SWEDEN. 






Lapland and West Bothnia 


1. 


Scritofinni 


Sweden Proper 


2. 


Suiones 


Gothland 


o. 


Gutae et Hilleviones 


Finland 


4. 


Finningia 


Islands of Gothland — Oeland, 


5. 


Insulse Sinus Codani 


Aland, Rugen 







ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



155 



MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



DENMARK, 






Jutland. 


Chersonesus- Cimbrica. 


1. Alburg 


1. Cimbri 


2. Wyburg 




3. Aarhusen 


3. Harudes 


4. Rypen 


4. Phundusii, Sigulones 


5. Sleswick 


5. Saablingii 


Danish Islands in the Baltic. 


Insults Sinus CodanL 


1. Zealand 


I, 2. Teutones 


2. Funen 




3. Falster 




4. Longeland 




5. Laland 




6. Femeren 




7. Alsen 




8. Moen 




9. Bornholm 




RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 


SARMATIA EUROP^A. 


1. Livonia and Estonia 


1. Hirri et jEstii vel Ostiones 


2. Ingria, or the Government 




of Petersburg 




3. Carelia, or the Government 




of Wiburg 




4. Novogrod 


4. Budini 


5. Archangel, Samoiedia 




6. Moscow 


6. Basilic! 


7. Nishnei Novogrod 




8. Smolensk! 


8. Caiiones 


9. Kiew 




10. Bielgorod 


10 8c 4. Budini 


11. Woronesk 


1 1 . Roxolani 


12. Azoff 


12. Iazyges 


FRANCE. 


GALLIA. 


1. Picardy 


1. Ambiani 


2. Isle of France 


' 2. Bellovaci, Parisii, Suessones 




3. Remi, Catalauni, Tricasses, 


3 Champagne 


13 Lingones 




4. Unelli vel Veneti, Sail," 




4. Normandy 


Lexovii, Veliocasses 






5. Osismii, Veneti, Nam- 


?i 


5. Bretany 


netes, Andes, Redones, ^ 




6. Aureliani, Carnutes, Se- 


p 


6. Orleannois 


nones, Turones, Picto- 





nes, Bituriges 



IBB 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 



MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 

7. JEdui, Segusiani 

8. Salyes, Cavares 

9. Volcse, Arecomici, Helvii, 
Tolosates 

10. Petrocorii, Bituriges, Cadur- 
ci, Ruteni 

1 1 . Aquitani 

12. Allobroges, Centrones 

13. Lingonesj TEdui, Sequani 



7. Lionnois 

8. Provence 

9. Languedoc 

10. Guienne 

11. Gascoigne 

12. Dauphine 

13. Burgundy and Franche- 

comte 

14. Lorraine and Alsace 



14. Leuci, Mediomatrici, Tri- 
boci, Nemetes 



UNITED PROVINCES, OR 
KINGDOM OF HOLLAND 

1. Holland 

2. Friesland 

3. Zealand 

4. Groningen 

5. Overyssel 

6. Guelderland and Zutphen 

7. Utrecht 



SAXONES. 
Frisii 



4. Cauci vel Chauci 

5. Franci 

6. Bructeri, Catti, Sicambri 

7. Batavi 



BE 



10, 



NETHERLANDS, 

LONGING TO FRANCE AND 
HOLLAND. 

Brabant 

Antwerp 

Mechlen or Malines 

Limburgh 

Luxemburgh 

Namur 

Hainault 

Cambresis 

Artois 

Flanders 



GERMANY. 

1. Upper Saxony 

2. Lower Saxony 

3. Westphalia 

4. Upper Rhine 

5. Lower Rhine 

6. Franconia 

7. Austria 

8. Bavaria 

9. Suabia. 



BELG^L, 8cc. 

1. Menapii, Tungrii 

2. Toxandri 

4, 5. Alemanni 

6. Treveri 

7. Remi 

9. Atrebates, Veromandui 
10. Belgae, Morini 

NATIONES GERMANICS. 

1. Suevi, Lingae, Sec. 

2. Saxones, Longobardi, 
Gambrivii 

3. Cherusci, Chamavi, Ga- ^> ° 
uchi, Germania Inferior i ( s 

4. Germania Superior 

5. Marci, Tincteri J 

6. Marcomanni, Hermonduri 

7. Noricum 

8. Rhsetia 

9. Vindelicia 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



157 



MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



BOHEMIA. 
). Bohemia Proper 

2. Silesia 

3. Moravia 

POLAND. 

1. Greater Poland 

2. Less Poland 

3. Prussia Royal 

4. Prussia Ducal 

5. Samogitia 

6. Courland 

7. Lithuania 

8. Warsovia 

9. Polachia 

10. Polesia 

11. Red Russia 

12. Podolia 

13. Volhinia 

SPAIN. 

1. Gallicia 

2. Asturia 

3. Biscay 

4. Navarre 

5. Arragon 

6. Catalonia 

7. Valentia 

8. Murcia 

9. Granada 

10. Andalusia 

11. Old Castile 

12. New Castile 

13. Leon 

14. Estremadura 

SPANISH ISLANDS. 

Ivica 

Majorca 

Minorca 

PORTUGAL 

Entre Minho e Douro 
Tralos Montes 



1. Boiohoemum 

2. Corconti 

3. Quadi 

GERMANO-SARMAT^l. 

1. Peucini 

2. Lugii 

3. 4. Burgundiones, Rugii 3 

Guthones 

5. Ombroges 

6. Scyri 

7. 8. Germano-Sarmatia 



11, 12, 13. Bastarnse 



HISPANIA, vel TBERIA. 

I, 2, 3. Gallicia CantabrL 

Astures, Varduli 



4, 5, 6. Tarraconensis- 



Vascones, Valetani 

7, 8. Carthaginensis — iEditani, 
Contestani 

9. 10. Baetica Bastiani, 

Bastuli, Turdetani, &c. 

11. Gallseciae pars AccseL, 

Arevaci 

12. Tarraconensis pars — — Car- 
petani, Oretani 

13. Gallaecise pars Vettones 

14. Lusitaniae pars — — Bseturia 

INSULA HISPANICtE, 
Baleares 



LUSITANIA. 

Calliaci, Lusitani, Celtic! 



158 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 

. ANCIENT EUROPE, 



Beira 

Estremadura 
Entre Tajo 
Alentajo 
Algarva 

SWITZERLAND, 

1. Bern 

2. Friburg 

3. Bassil or Bale 

4. Lucern 

5. Soluturn 

6. Schaffhausen 

7. Zurick . 

8. Appenzel 

9. Zug 

10. Schweitz 
H. Glaris 

12. Uri 

13. Underwald 

14. Geneva 

15. Grisons, Sec 



Confederates 
of the Swiss. 



ITALY, 



1. Savoy 



HELVETIA. 

1, 2, 3, 4. Ambrones 



6*7, 8, 9, 10. Tigurini 



2. Piedmont 


2 


3. Montserrat 


3 


4. Milan 


4 


5. Genoa 


5 


6. Parma 


6 


7. Modena 


7 


8. Mantua 


8. 


9. Venice 


9 


10. Trent 


10 


1 1 . The Popedom 


11. 


12. Tuscany 


12 


13. Lucca 


13 


14. San Marino 


14 


15. Kingdom of Naples 


15 


ITALIAN ISLANDS. 




1. Sicily. 


1. 


2. Sardinia 


2 



14. Nantuates 

15, Veragri, Vallis Pennina, 
Lepontii 



ITALIA. 

Lepontii, Segusini, 

Taurini 

Orobi "} 

Insubres Spuria 

J y& S> 

Anamani 

Boii 

Cenomani 

Venetia 

Tridentini, 

Lingones, Senones, Pice- 

nura, Umbria, Sabini, Pars 

Latii 

Tuscia vel Etruria 

Pars Tuscise 

Pars Umbrise 

Samnium, Pars Latii, Apulia, 

Campania, Lucania, Brut- 

tium 



o 



INSULA ITALICS. 
1 . Sicilia, Sicania, vel Trinacria 
Sardo, vel Sardinia 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 159 

MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. 



3. Corsica 

4. Malta 

5. Lipari Islands 

6. Capi'i, Ischia, &c. 

HUNGARY 
TRANSYLVANIA 

SCLAVONIA 
CROATIA 

TURKEY IN EUROPE. 

1. Dalmatia 

2. Bosnia 

3. Servia 

4. Wallachia 

5. Moldavia and Bessarabia 

6. Bulgaria 

7. Albania 

8. Macedonia 
9 Romania 

10. Livadia 

11. Morea 

12. Budziac Tartary or Bessa- 
rabia 

13. Little Tartary 

14. Crimea 

GREEK ISLANDS. 

1. Corfu 

2. Cephalonia 

3. Zante 

4. Ithace, Thiace, Sec. 

GREEK ISLANDS IN THE 
ARCHIPELAGO. 

1. Candia 

2. Negropont 

3. Stalimene 

4. Scyro, Sec. 



3. Cyrnus, vel Corsica 

4. Melita 

5. Lipariae Insulae 

6. Capreae, Ischia, See. 



DACIA 

PANNONIA 
ILLYRICUM 



1. Dalmatia 

2. Maesia Superior 

3. Dacia Ripensis 

4. Getae 

5. Pars Dacis 

6. Maesia Inferior 

7. Epirus 

8. Macedonia 

9. Thracia 
10. Thessalia 

&j 4 11. Peloponnesus 
j5 12. Scythia et Pars Daciae 

i 13. Parva Scythia 

^14. Taurica Chersonesus 

INSULA MARIS IONIL 

1. Corcyra 

2. Cephalenia 

3. Zacynthus 

4. Ithaca, Sec. 



INSULA MARIS JEC£I. 

1. Creta 

2. Euboea. 

3. Lemnos 

4. Scyros, Sec. 



THREAT BRITAIN. 



SCOTLAND. 

1. Edinburgh 
.2. Haddington 
3. Berwick 



SCOTIA 

Damnii 




!: 



Vecturione= 



160 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OP 



MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE, 



SCOTLAND, 

4. Roxburgh 

5. Selkirk 

6. Dumfries 

7. Kircudbright 

8. Peebles 

9. Wigton 

10. Lanerk 

11. Air 

12. Dumbarton 

13. Bute 

14. Renfrew 

15. Stirling 

16. Linlithgow 

17. Fife 

18. Clackmannan 

19. Kinross 

20. Perth 

21. Argyle 

22. Kincardine 

23. Forfar 

24. Aberdeen 

25. Banff 

26. Elgin 

27. Nairn 

28. Inverness 

29. Ross 

30. Cromarty 

31. Sutherland 

32. Caithness 

33. Orkney 

34. Shetland 



SCOTIA. 

£ !>Selgovse 
7. j 



9. 



J>Novantes 



10. j 

11. J 

11: 1 1 

14. ^-Damnii ^Picti 

i5. i r 

16. J J 

17.1 ) 

j*- j>Caledonii J>Picti 

20'. J . .. j 

21. Epidii, Gadeni, Cerones 

22. Verniconesl 

23. Horestse 

24. I 

25. i-Tsezali 
26. 
27. 
28. 

29. I 1 

30. y Cantae [ „ 
31 I ^-Scoti 

32. Mertse J 

33. Orcades 

34. Thule 



k 1 - f J 

;. J-Tsezah 

'" r,r j 

£ Vacomagi 



ENGLAND, 

1. Cornwall 

2. Devonshire 

3. Dorsetshire 

4. Hampshire 

5. Somersetshire 

6. Wiltshire 

7. Berkshire 

8. Oxfordshire 

9. Gloucestershire 

10. Monmouthshire 

11. Herefordshire 

12. Worcestershire 

13. Staffordshire 

14. Shropshire 



ANGLIA. 



1. 



Damnonii 



3. Durotriges 

4 * 1 

5. 5>Belg3e 

6. i 



7. Attrebatii 
Dobuni 

Silures 



10. I 

11. 5 



12. 

13. J-Cornavil 

14. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 161 

MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE, 



15. Essex 

16. Hartfordshire 

17. Kent 

18. Surry 

19. Sussex 

20. Norfolk 

21. Suffolk 

22. Cambi'idgeshire 

23. Huntingdonshire 

24. Bedfordshire 

25. Buckinghamshire 

26. Lincolnshire 

27. Nottinghamshire 

28. Derbyshire 

29. Rutlandshire 

30. Leicestershire 

31. Warwickshire 

32. Northamptonshire 

33. Northumberland 

34. Durham 

35. Yorkshire 

36. Lancashire 

37. Westmoreland 

38. Cumberland 

39. Cheshire 

40. Middlesex 



15. Trinobantes 

16. Catieuchlani 

17. Cantii 
18. 
19. 



Regni 



3 > 

> Simenij vel Iceni 

V Catieuchlani 



20 
2 

22. 
23. 

24. J 

25. Attrebatii 



26. "| 

27. | 

28. ^Coritani 

29. | 

30. J 

31. Cornavi 

32. Catieuchlani 



33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 
38. 
39. 
40. Attrebates et Catieuchlani 



Ottadeni 



1 
^>.Brigantes 

I 

J 
Cornavii 



WALES. 



1. Anglesey 

2. Flintshire 

3. Montgomery 

4. Denbighshire 

5. Carnarvonshire 

6. Merioneth 

7. Cardiganshire 

8. Carmarthenshire 

9. Pembrokeshire 

10. Radnorshire 

11. Brecknockshire 
13. Glamorganshire 



1 . Mona Insula 

2> 1 

3. | 

4. }>Ordovices 

| I 
6. J 

7 - 1 

8. vDemetse 



10. 1 . 

11. ISi 

12. J 



Silures 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OP 



MODERN EUROPE. 





" 1. Louth 


1. 




2. Meath East 


2. 




3. Meath West 


3. 




4. Longford 


4. 


45 


5. Dublin 


5. 


to 


6. Kildare 


6. 


si 


7. King's County 


7. 


a 


8. Queen's County 


8. 




9. Wicklow 


9. 




10. Carlo w 


10. 




11. Wexford 


11. 




J 2. Kilkenny 


12. 



ANCIENT EUROPE. 

HIBERNIA, vel IRENE. 

Voluntii 

i Cauci 
Auteri 
y Blanii 

Coriondi 
Blanii 
> Manapii 
Coriondi 



13. Donnegal or Tyrconnel 13. Vennicnii 

14. Londonderry 14. 1 

15. Antrim 15. vRobogdii 

16. Tyrone 16. J 

17. Fermanagh 17. Erdini 

118. Armagh 18. 1 

19. Down 19. I Voluntii 

, 20. Monaghan 20. J 

121. Cavan 21. Cauci 



f22. 

S I 23 - 

| 124. 
§ ] 25. 
" 26. 
27. 



I 



bJi> 



<z . 
a 
p. 
o 

u 



28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 



Cork County 

Waterford 

Tipperary 

Limerick 

Kerry 

Clare 

Galway 
Roscommon 

Mayo 

Sligoe 

Leitrim 



BRITANNIC ISLANDS. 

1. Shetland and Orkney 

2. Western Isles of Scotland 

3. Man 

4. Anglesey 

5. Wight 



22 

2 

24 

25 

26 

2 



Vodiae, Iverni 



28 

29. 



i Brigantes 
> Velabori 

7 " 1 

y Gangani 

8. j 



Auteri 



30. "] 

31. I 

32. J 



Nagnatse 



INSULA BRITANNIC^ 

1. Thule 

2. Ebudes Insulse 

3. Monseda vel Mona 

4. Mona 

5. Vectis 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



168 



MODERN ASIA. 



ANCIENT ASIA. 



TURKEY IN ASIA. 




ASIA MINOR. 


1. Natolia 


1. 


Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Phry- 
gia, Bithynia, Galatia, Paph? 
lagonia 


2. Amasia or Siwas 


2. 


Pontus 


3. Aladulia 


3. 


Armenia 


4. Caramania 


4. 


Cappadocia, Cilicia, 8cc. 


5. Irak 


5. 


Babylonia, Chaldaea 


6. Diarbeck 


6. 


Mesopotamia 


7. Curdistan 


7. 


Assyria 


8. Turcoinania 

9. Georgia 


8. 
9. 


> Armenia Major 


10. Syria and Palestine 


10. 


Syria, Palmyrene, Phoenicia? 
Judsea 


ARABIA. 




ARABIA. 


Arabia Petraea 


Arabia Petraea 


Arabia Deserta 


Arabia Deserta 


Arabia Felix 


Arabia Felix 


PERSIA. 




PERSIA. 


1. Chorassan 


1. 


Pars Hyrcanise et 
Sogdianse 


2. Balk, Sablustan, Candahar 


2. 


Bactriana 


3. Sigistan 


3. 


Drangiana 


4. Makeran 


4. 




5. Kerman 


5. 


Gedrosia 


6. Farsistan 


6. 


Persis 


7. Chusestan 


7. 


Susiana 


8. Irak Agem 


8. 


Parthia 


9. Curdestan 


9. 


Pars Assyriae 


10. Aderbeitzen 


10. 


Media 


11. Georgia 


11. 


1 


12. Gangea 


12. 


V Iberia, Colchis, et Albania 


13. Dagestan 


13. 


J 


14. Mazanderam 






15. Gilan Taberistan 


15. 


Pars Hyrcaniae 


16. Chirvan 


16. 


Pars Albanise 


INDIA. 




INDIA. 

India intra Gang-em. 


Delli -} 


Palibothra 


As;ra ! ,» , 
Cambaia > M °^ 1 


Agora 

Regna Pori et Taxilis 


Bengal J 







16& COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 

MODERN ASIA. ANCIENT ASIA 



India within \ 


the Ganges. 


India intra Gangem. 


Decan 




Dachanos 


Golconda 




Prasii vet Gangaridse 


Bisnagar 






Malabar 




Male 


Island of Ceylon 




Taprobana Insula vel Salice 


India beyond 


the Ganges 


India extra Gangem. 


Pegu 






Tonquin 






Cochinchina 






Siam 




Sinarum Regio 
CHINA. 


Niuche 






Corea 






Laotong 




Sinse 


Pekin 






Xansi 




Sericse 


Xensi 






Xantum 




Cathaea 


Nanking 






Chekiam 






Honan 






Huquara 






Kiamsi 






Fokien 






Canton 






Quamsi 




- 


Suchuen 






Quecheu 






Yunam 








CHINESE ISLANDS. 


Formosa 






Ainan 






Macao 






Bashee Islands 








RUSSIA IN ASIA. 


1. Astracan 




1. S arm ati a Asiatica 


2. Orenburg 




SO 


4. Siberia— Tobolsk, Jeniseiaj 4. f ' 


Irkutsk, Kamschatka 


J 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 165 

MODERN ASIA. ANCIENT ASIA. 

INDEPENDENT TARTARY. 

1. Great Bucharia 1. Bactriana, Sogdiana 

2. Karasm 2. Aria 



ALUTH TARTARS. 

1. Little Bucharia 

2. Casgar 

3. Turkestan 

4. Kalmac Tartars 

5. Thibet 

6. Little Thibet 

CHINESE TARTARY. 
Kalkas 

Mongol Tartars 
Mantchou Tartars 
Corea 

ISLANDS OF CHINESE 
TARTARY. 

Sagalien-Ula-hata 
Jedso 

ISLANDS OF JAPAN. 

Japan or Niphon 

Xicoco 

Ximo 

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 
Lucon or Manilla 
Mindanao, &c. 

MARIAN OR LADRONE 

ISLANDS. 
Tinian 

ISLES OF SUNDA. 
Borneo 

Sumatra 
Java, Sec. 

MOLUCCA ISLES. 
Celebes 
Amboyna 
Ceram 
Timor 
Flores, &c. 



SCYTHIA extra IMAUM. 
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 

SINiE. 



MALDIVA ISLES. 



165 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 

MODERN AFRICA. ANCIENT AFRICA. 



BARBARY. 

1. Morocco 

2. Algiers 

3. Tunis 

4. Tripoli 

5. Barca 



1. 

2. 
o. 

4. 

5. 



Egypt 

Bled-el-jerrede 

Zaara, or the Desert 

Negroland 

Guinea 

Upper Ethiopia — — 



9. 
10. 
11. 

12. 
13. 
14. 

is. 



Nubia, Abyssinia, Abex 
Lower Ethiopia 

Lower Guinea 

Loartgo, Congo, Angola, 
Benguela, Matanan 
Ajan 

Zanguebar 
Monomotapa 
monoemugi 
Sofola. 

Terra de Natal 
Cafraria, or country of the 
Hottentots 



1. Mauritania Tingitana 

2. Mauritania Csesariensis 

3. Numidia, Africa Propria 

4. Tripolitana 

5. Cyrenaica, Libya Superior 

1. jEgyptus 

2. Libya Inferior, G^etulia 

3. Solitudines 

4. AuTOLOLES 

6. JEthiopije et Libyje pars 

7. jEthIopi^e pars. 



NORTH AMERICA. 

BRITISH AMERICA. 

1. The countries on the east and west sides of Baffin's and Hud- 

son's Bays 

2. Labrador, or New Britain 

3. Canada 

4. Nova Scotia 



Islands. 



Newfoundland, Cape Breton 



British Islands in the West Indies. 

Bermudas, Bahama Islands, Jamaica, St. Christopher's, Nevis, 
Montserrat, Antigua, Dominica, St. Vincent, Tobago, Grenada, 
Barbadoes, &c. 8cc. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 167 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

New England New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and 

Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island. 

State of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, Ohio. 

The district of Columbia, the territories of Indiana, Michigan, 
Missisippi, Orleans, Louisiana. 

SPANISH AMERICA. 

Mexico or New Spain, New Mexico, Florida. 

Spanish Islands in the West Indies. 
Cuba, Porto Rico, Trinidad, Margarita, Cubagua, &c. 

Dutch Islands in the West Indies. 

Part of St. Martin's Isle, Eustatius, Aves, Buenayres, Curacoa, 
Aruba. 

Late French Islands in the West Indies, noiv British. 

Miquelon, St Pierre, part of St. Martin's Isle, St. Bartholomews 
Martinico, Guadaloupe, Desiada, Mariegalante, St. Lucia. 

Banish Islands in the West Indies. 
St. Thomas, Santa Cruz. 

|C?» The large island of St. Domingo, now called Hayti, has been 
seized by the Negroes. 

SOUTH AMERICA. 

FRENCH. 

Part of the Province of Guiana, Cayenne, Sec. 

SPANISH. 

Terra Firma, Country of the Amazons, Peru, Chili, Terra Ma- 
gellanica, Paraguay, Tucuman. 

DUTCH. 

Part of Guiana, Surinam, &c. 

PORTUGUESE. 

Brasil. and many islands on the coast, part of Guiana. 



168 COMPARATIVE VEW OF 



The Empire of Assyria, under Ninus and Semiramis, about 
2200 before J. C, comprehended, Asia Minor, Colchis, Assy- 
ria, Media Chaldea, Egypt. 

The Empire of Assyria, as divided about 820 before J. C, formed 
three Kingdoms, Media, Babylo-Chaldea (Syria and Chaldea), 
Lydia (all Asia Minor). 

The Empire of the Persians, under Darius Hystaspes, 522 before 
J. C, comprehended, Persis, Susiana, Chaldea, Assyria, Media, 
Bactriana, Armenia, Asia, Parthia, Iberia, Albania, Colchis, 
Asia Minor, Egypt, part of Ethiopia, part of Scythia. 

The Empire of Alexander the great, 330 before J. C, con« 
sisted of, 1, all Macedonia and Greece, except Peloponnesus; 
2, all the Persian Empire, as above described ; 3, India to the 
banks of the Indus on the east, and the Iaxartes or Tanais on 
the north. 

The Empire of Alexander was thus divided, 306 before J. C„ 
between Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus. 

Empire of Ptolemy. 

Lybia, Arabia, Coslosyria, Palestine. 

Empire of Cassander. 

Macedonia, Greece. 

Empire of Lysimachus. 
Thrace, Bithynia. 

Empire of Seleucus. 
Syria, and all the rest of Alexander's empire. 

The Empire of the Parthtans, 140 before J V C, comprehended, 
Parthia, Hyrcania, Media, Persis, Bactriana, Babylonia, Meso- 
potamia, India to the Indus. 

The Roman Empire, under the Kings, was confined to the city of 
Rome, and a few miles round it. 

The Roman Empire, at the end of the Republic, comprehended 
all Italy, great part of Gaul, part of Britain, Africa Proper, great 
part of Spain, Illyria, Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia, Achaia, Mace- 
donia, Dardania, Moesia, Thracia, Pontus, Armenia, Judaea, Cili- 
cia, Syria, Egypt. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 



169 



Under the Emperors the following countries were reduced into 

Roman Provinces. 
All Spain, the Alpes Maritimae, Piedmont, &c. Rhaetia, Nori» 

cum, Pannonia, and Moesia, Pontus, Armenia, Assyria, Arabia, 

Egypt. 

Constantius Chlorus and Galerius divided the Empire into East- 
ern and Western ; and under Constantine each empire had a 
distinct capital or seat of government. 

The extent of each division was fluctuating from time to time; but 5 
in general, the Western Empire comprehended Italy, Illyria s 
Africa, Spain, the Gauls, Britain. 

The Eastern Empire comprehended Asia Minor, Pontus, Arme» 
nia, Assyria, Media, Sec. Egypt, Thrace, Dacia, Macedonia. 

The Empire of Charlemagne, A. D. 800, comprehended France, 
Marca Hispanica (or Navarre and Catalonia), Majorca, Minorca 3 
and Ivica, Corsica, Italy as far south as Naples, Istria, Liburnia, 
Dalmatia, Rhsetia, Vindelica, Noricum, Germany, from the 
Rhine to the Oder, and to the banks of the Baltic. 

France contained, 1, Neustria, comprehending Bretany, Normandy, 
Isle of France, Orleannois ; 2, Austria, comprehending Picardy, 
and Champaigne; 3, Aquitania, comprehending Guienne, and 
Gascony; 4, Burgundia, comprehending Burgundy, Lionnois, 
Languedoc, Dauphine, Provence. 



NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL EIVEES JJV EUMOPE, 





ANCIENT. 




MODERN 


1. 


Rha 




1. 


Wolga 


2. 


Tanais 




2. 


Don 


3, 


Borystenes 




o. 


Nieper 


4. 


Tyras 




4. 


Niester 


5. 


Danubius or 


Ister 


5. 


Danube 


6. 


Padus 




6. 


Po 


7. 


Rhoclanus 




7. 


Rhone 


8. 


Iberus 




8. 


Ebro 


9. 


Bcetis 




9. 


Guadalquiver - 


10. 


Anas 




10. 


Guadiana 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF 



ANCIENT. 


MODERN. 


11. Tagus 


11. Tayo 


12. Durius 


12. Douro 


13. Gurumna 


13. Garonne 


14. Eiger 


14. Loire 


15. Sequana 


15. Seine 


16. Samara 


16. Somme 


17. Scaldis 


17. Scheldt, 


18. Mosa 


18. Maese 


19. Rhenus 


19. Rhine 


20. Visurgis 


20. Weser 


21. Albis 


21. Elbe 


22. Viadrus 


22. Oder 


23. Tamesis 


23. Thames 



The Vistula, the Dwina at Riga, and the Dwina at Archangel 



PART SECOND™ 

MODERN HISTORY. 

SECTION I. 

OF ARABIA, AND THE EMPIRE OF THE SARACENS. 

1. JL HE fall of the western empire of the Romans, and 
the final subjugation of Italy by the Lombards, is the s&vsl 
from which we date the commencement of Modern History. 

The eastern empire of the Romans continued to exist for 
snany ages after this period, still magnificent, though in a 
state of comparative weakness and degeneracy. Toward 
the end of the sixth century a new dominion arose in the 
east, which was destined to produce a wonderful change on 
a great portion of the globe. 

The Arabians, at this time a rude nation, living chiefly ia 
independent tribes, who traced their descent from the patri- 
arch Abraham, professed a mixed religion, compounded of 
Judaism and idolatry. Mecca, their holy city, rose to emi- 
nence from the donations of pilgrims to its temple^ in which 
was reposited a black stone, an object of high veneration, 
Mahomet was born at Mecca, A. D. 571. Of mean descent, 
and no education, but of great natural talents, he sought to 
raise himself to celebrity, by feigning a divine mission to pro» 
pagate a new religion for the salvation of mankind. He re- 
tired to the desert, and pretended to hold conferences with 
the angel Gabriel, who delivered to him, from time to time, 
portions of a sacred book or Cor an, containing revelations of 



172 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

the will of the Supreme Being, and of the doctrines which he 
required his prophet to communicate to the world. 

2. This religion, while it adopted in part the morality of 
Christianity, retained many of the rites of Judaism, and some 
of the Arabian superstitions, as the pilgrimage to Mecca; 
hut owed to a certain spirit of Asiatic voluptuousness its chief 
recommendation to its votaries. The Coran taught the be- 
lief of one God, whose will and power were constantly ex- 
erted toward the happiness of his creatures; that the duty 
of man was to love his neighbours, assist the poor, protect 
the injured, to he humane to inferior animals, and to pray 
seven times a day. The pious mussulman was allowed to 
have four wives, and as many concubines as he chose; and 
the pleasures of love were promised as the supreme joys of 
paradise. To revive the impression of those laws, which 
God had engraven originally in the hearts of men, he had 
sent from time to time his prophets upon earth, Abraham, 
Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet; the last the greatest, to 
whom all the world should owe its conversion to the true reli- 
gion. By producing the Coran in detached parcels Mahomet 
had it in his power to solve all objections by new revelations. 

3. Dissensions and popular tumults between the believers 
and infidels caused the banishment of Mahomet from Mecca. 
His flight, called the hegyra, A. D. 622, is the sera of his glory, 
He retired v to Medina, and was joined by the brave Omar. 
He propagated his doctrines with great success, and marched 
with his followers in arms, and took the city of Mecca. In 
a few years he subdued all Arabia; and then attacking Syria? 
took several of the Soman cities. In the midst of his victo- 
ries he died at the age of sixty-one, A. D. 632. He had no- 
minated Ali, his son-in-law, his successor; but Abubeker, his 
father-in-law, secured the succession by gaining the army to 
his interest. 

4. Abubeker united and published the books of the Coran, 
and prosecuted the conquests of Mahomet. He defeated the 
army of Heraclius, took Jerusalem, and subjected all the 
country between Mount Libanus and the Mediterranean. On 
his death Omar was elected to the caliphate, and in one cam- 
paign deprived the Greek empire of Syria, Phoenicia, Mesopo- 



SECT. I. MODERN HISTORY: 473 

tamia, and Chaldsea. In the next campaign lie subdued the 
whole empire of Persia, and reduced it to the mussulman do- 
minion and religion. At the same time his generals con- 
quered Egypt, Lybia, and Numidia. 

5. Otman, the successor of Omar, added Bactriana and 
part of Tartary to the dominion of the caliphs, and ravaged 
Rhodes and the Greek islands. His successor was Ali, the 
son-in-law of Mahomet, a name to this day revered by the 
Mahometans. He transferred the seat of the caliphate from 
Mecca to CoufFa, whence it was afterward removed to 
Bagdat. His reign was glorious, but only of live years' du- 
ration. In the space of half a century from the beginning of 
the conquests of Mahomet the Saracens raised an empire 
more extensive than what remained of the Roman. Nineteen 
caliphs of the race of Omar fOmmiadesJ reigned in succes- 
sion, after which began the dynasty of the JLbassidce, descend- 
ed bj the male line from Mahomet. Almanzor, second 
caliph of this race, removed the seat of empire to Bagdat, 
and introduced learning and the culture of the sciences, which 
his successors continued to promote with equal zeal and libera- 
lity. Haroun Alraschid, who flourished in the beginning of the 
ninth century, is celebrated as a second Augustus. The sci- 
ences chiefly cultivated by the Arabians were, medicine, ; ge- 
ometry, and astronomy. They improved the oriental poetry, 
by adding regularity to its fancy and luxuriancy of imagery. 



SECTION II. 

MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS. 

I. The Franks were originally those tribes of Germans who 
inhabited the districts lying on the Lower Rhine and the We- 
ser, and who, in the time of Tacitus, passed under the names 
of Chauci, Cherusci, Catti, Sicambri, &c. They assumed or 
received the appellation of Franks, or freemen, from their 
temporary union to resist the dominion of the Romans. Le- 
gendary chronicles record a Pharamond and a Meroveus; the 
latter the head of the first race of the kings of France, termed 



174 MODERN HISTORY. 3>ART II, 

the Merovingian; but the authentic history of the Franks 
commences only with Meroveus's grandson Clovis, who began 
to reign in the year 481. In the twentieth year of his age 
Clovis achieved the conquest of Gaul, by the defeat of Sya- 
grius the Roman governor; and marrying Clotilda, daughter 
of Childeric king of Burgundy, soon added that province to 
his dominions, by dethroning his father-in law. He was con- 
verted by Clotilda; and the Franks, till then idolaters, be- 
came Christians, after their sovereign's example. The Visi- 
goths, professing Arianism, were at this time masters of 
Aquitaine. the country between the Rhone and Loire. The 
intemperate zeal of Clovis prompted the extirpation of those 
heretics, who retreated across the Pyrennees into Spain; and 
the proviuces of Aquitaine became part of the kingdom of 
the Franks. They did not long retain it. for Theodoric the 
Great defeated Clovis in the battle of Aries, and added Aqui- 
taine to his dominions. Clovis died A. D. 511. 

2. His four sons divided the monarchy, and were perpetu- 
ally at war with one another. A series of weak and wicked 
princes succeeded, and, for some ages, Gaul was characterized 
under its Frank sovereigns by more than ancient barbarism. 
On the death of Dagobert II, A. D. 638, who left two infant 
sons, the government, during their minority, fell into the 
hands of their chief officers, termed mayors of the palace^ 
and these ambitious men founded a new power, which, for 
some generations held the Frank sovereigns in absolute sub- 
jection, and left them little more than the title of king. Aus- 
trasia and Neustria, the two great divisions of the Frank 
monarchy, were nominally governed by Thierry, but in re- 
ality by Pepin Heristel, mayor of the palace, who restricting 
his sovereign to a small domain, ruled France for thirty years 
with great wisdom and good policy. His son, Charles M ar- 
tel, succeeded to his power, and under a similar title govern- 
ed for twenty-six years with equal ability and success. He 
was victorious over all his domestic foes. His arms kept in 
awe the surrounding nations, and he delivered France from 
the ravages of the Saracens, whom he entirely defeated be- 
tween Tours and Poictiersj A. B. 752* 



SECT. II. MODERN HISTORY. 176 

3. Charles Martel bequeathed the government of France, 
as an undisputed inheritance, to his two sons, Pepin Le Brei 
and Carloman, who governed, under the same title of mayor, 
one Austrasia, and the other Neustria and Burgundy. On 
the resignation of Carloman, Pepin succeeded to the sole ad- 
ministration. Ambitious of adding the title of king to the 
power which he already enjoyed, he proposed the question to 
pope Zachary, whether he or his sovereign Childeric was most 
•worthy of the throne? Zachary, who had his interest in view, 
decided that Pepin had a right to add the title of king to the 
office; and Childeric was confined to a monastery for life. 
"With him ended the first or Merovingian race of the kings 
of France, A. D. 751. 

4. Pepin recompensed the service which the pope had done 
him, by turning his arms against the Lombards. He depri- 
ved them of the exarchate of Ravenna, and made a donation 
of that and other considerable territories to the holy see, 
which were the first, as is alleged, of its temporal posses- 
sions. Conscious of his defective title, it was the principal 
object of Pepin le Bref to conciliate the affections of the 
people whom he governed. The legislative power among the 
Franks was vested in the people assembled in their champs de 
Mars. Under the Merovingian race the regal authority had 
sunk to nothing, while the power of the nobles had attained an 
inordinate extent. Pepin found it his best policy to acknow- 
ledge and ratify those rights, which he could not without 
danger have invaded; and thus, under the character of guar- 
dian of the powers of all the orders of the state, he exalted 
the regal office to its proper elevation, and founded it on the 
securest basis. On his death-bed he called a council of the 
grandees, and obtained their consent to a division of his king- 
dom between his two sons, Charles and Carloman. He died 
A. D. 768, at the age of fifty-three, after a reign of seven- 
teen years from the death of Childeric III, and an adminis- 
tration ot twenty-seven from the death of Charles MarteL 



176 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 



SECTION III. 

BEFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF FRANCE DURING THE ME- 
ROVINGIAN RACE OF ITS KINGS. ORIGIN OF THE FEUDAL 
SYSTEM. 

1. The manners of the Franks were similar to those of the 
other Germanic nations described by Tacitus. Though un- 
der the command of a chief or king, their government was 
extremely democratical, and they acknowledged no other than 
a military subordination. The legislative authority resided 
in the general assembly, or champ de Mars, held annually on 
the 1st day of March; a council in which the king had but a 
single suffrage, equally with the meanest soldier. But, when 
in arms against the enemy, his power was absolute in enfor- 
cing military discipline. 

2. After the establishment of the Franks in Gaul some 
changes took place from their new situation. They reduced 
the Gauls to absolute subjection; yet they left many in pos- 
session of their lands, because the new country was too large 
for its conquerors. They left them likewise the use of their 
existing laws, which were those of the Roman code, while 
they themselves were governed by the salique and ripuarian 
laws, ancient institutions in observance among the Franks 
before they left their original seats in Germany. Hence arose 
that extraordinary diversity of local laws and usages in the 
kingdom of France, which continued down to modern times, 
and gave occasion to numberless inconveniences. 

3. The ancient Germans had the highest veneration for the 
priests or druids. It was natural that the Franks, after their 
conversion to Christianity, should have the same reverence 
for their bishops, to whom accordingly they allowed the first 
rank in the national assembly. Those bishops were gene- 
rally chosen from among the native Gauls; for, having adopt- 
ed from this nation their new religion, it was natural that 
their priests should be chosen from the same people. The in- 
fluence of the clergy contributed much to ameliorate the con- 



SECT. III. MODERN HISTORY, ^yy 

dition of the conquered Gauls, and to humanize their con- 
querors,' and in a short space of time the two nations were 
thoroughly incorporated. 

4. At this period a new system of policy is visible among 
this united people, which by degrees extended itself over 
most of the nations of Europe. This is the feudal system. 
By this expression is properly meant that tenure or condition 
on which the proprietors of land held their possessions, name- 
ly, an obligation to perform military service, whenever re- 
quired by the chief or overlord to whom they owed allegiance. 

Many modern writers attribute the origin of this institu- 
tion or policy to the kings of the Franks, wLo, after the con- 
quest of Gaul, are supposed to have divided the lands among 
their followers, on this eonditior of military service. But this 
notion is attended with insurmountable difficulties. For, j n 
the first place, it proceeds on this false supposition, that the 
conquered lands belonged in property to the king, and that 
he had the right of bestowing them in gifts, or dividing them 
among his followers; whereas it is a certain fact, that among 
the Franks the partition of conquered lands was made by lot, 
as was the division even of the spoil or booty taken in battle; 
and that the king's share, though doubtless a larger portion 
than that of his captains, was likewise assigned him by lot. 
Secondly, if we should suppose the king to have made those 
gifts to his captains out of his own domain, the creation of a 
very few beneficia (benefices) would have rendered him a 
poorer man than his subjects. We must, therefore, have re- 
course to another supposition for the origin of the fiefs; and 
we shall find that it is to be traced to a source much more re- 
mote than the conquest of Gaul by the Franks. 

5. Among all barbarous nations, with whom war is the chief 
occupation, we remark a strict subordination of the members 
of a tribe to their chief or leader. It was observed by Cjesar 
as peculiarly strong among the Gaulish nations, and as sub- 
sisting not only between the soldiers and their commander, 
but between the inferior towns or villages and the canton or 
province to which they belonged. In peace every man culti- 
vated his land, free of all taxation, and subject to no other 
burden but that of military service, when required by hi? 



180 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

by the authority of a papal decree, and reigned for seventeen 
years with dignity and success. He was the founder of the 
iecond race of the French monarehs known by the name of 
the Carlovingian. See KclVs Elements of General Knoivledge, 
vol. I.; also Gregory's Cyclopedia, article Feodal System,, 
where this subject is treated with perspicuity and elegance. 

SECTION IV. 

CHARLEMAGNE. THE NEW EMPIRE OE THE WEST. 

1. Pepin le Bref, with the consent of his nobles, divided, oa 
his death-bed, the kingdom of France between his sons, 
Charles and Carloman, A. D. 768. The latter died a few 
years after his father, and Charles succeeded to the undivided 
sovereignty. In the course of a reign of forty-five years 
Charlemagne (for so he was deservedly styled) extended the 
limits of his empire beyond the Danube; subdued Dacia, Dal- 
xnatia, and Istria; conquered and subjected all the barbarous 
tribes as far as the banks of the Vistula; made himself mas- 
ter of a great portion of Italy,* and successfully encountered 
the arms of the Saracens, the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the 
Saxons. His war with the Saxons was of thirty years' du- 
ration, and their final conquest was not achieved without a 
shocking waste of blood. At the request of the pope, and to 
discharge the obligation of his father Pepin to the holy see, 
Charlemagne dispossessed Desiderius king of the Lombards 
of ail J his dominions, though allied to him by marriage; and 
put a final period to the Lombard dominion in Italy, A. D. 77£. 

2. He made his entry into Rome at the festival of Easter, 
was there crowned king of France and of the Lombards, and 
was, by pope Adrian 1, invested with the right of ratifying 
the election of the popes. Irene, empress of the east, sought 
to ally herself with Charlemagne, by the marriage of her son 
Constantine to his daughter; but her subsequent inhuman con- 
duct, in putting Constantine to death, gave ground to suspect 
the sincerity of her desire for that alliance. 

3. In the last visit of Charlemagne to Italy he was conse- 
crated emperor of the west by the hands of pope Leo III. It 



SECT. IV. MODERN HISTORY. 181 

is probable that if he had chosen Rome for his residence and 
seat of government, and at his death had transmitted to his 
successor an undivided dominion, the great but fallen empire 
of the west might have once more been restored to lustre and 
respect. But Charlemagne had no fixed capital, and divided, 
even in his life-time, his dominions among his children, A. D. 
806. 

4. The economy of government and the domestic adminis- 
tration of Charlemagne merit attention. Pepin le Bref had 
introduced the system of annual assemblies or parliaments, 
held at first in March, and afterward in May, where the chief 
estates of clergy and nobles were called to deliberate on the 
public affairs and the wants of the people. Charlemagne ap- 
pointed those assemblies to be held twice in the year, in spring 
and in autumn. In the latter assembly all affairs were pre- 
pared and digested; in the former was transacted the business 
of legislation; and of this assembly he made the people a 
party, by admitting from each province or district twelve de- 
puties or representatives. The assembly now consisted of 
three estates, each of which formed a separate chamber, and 
discussed apart the concerns of its own order. They after- 
ward united to communicate their resolutions, or to delibe- 
rate on their common interests. The sovereign was never 
present, unless when called to ratify the decrees of theassem- 
Wy. 

5. Charlemagne divided the empire into provinces, and the 
provinces into districts, each comprehending a certain number 
of counties. The districts were governed by royal envoys, 
chosen from the clergy and nobles, and bound to an exact vi- 
sitation of their territories every three months. These envoys 
held annual conventions, at which w^re present the higher 
clergy and barons, to discuss the affairs of the district, exa- 
mine the conduct of its magistrates, and redress the grievan- 
ces of individuals. At the general assembly, or champ de Mai, 
the royal envoys made their report to the sovereign and states; 
and thus the public attention was constantly directed to all 
the concerns of the empire. 

6. The private character of Charlemagne was most amiable 
and respectable. His secretary, Eginhart, has painted his 



£§3 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

domestic life in beautiful and simple colours. The economy 
of his family is characteristic of an age of great simplicity; 
for his daughters were assiduously employed in spinning and 
housewifery, and the sons were trained by their father in the 
practice of all manly exercises. This illustrious man died 
A. D. 814, in the seventy-second year of his age. Cotempo- 
rary with him was Haroun Alraschid, caliph of the Saracens, 
equally celebrated for his conquests, excellent policy, and the 
wisdom and humanity of his government. 

7. Of all the lawful sons of Charlemagne Lewis the Debon- 
naire was the only one who survived him, and who therefore 
succeeded without dispute to all the imperial dominions, ex- 
cept Italy, which the emperor had settled on Bernard, his 
grandson by Pepin, his second son. 

SECTION V. 

MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE AGE OF 
CHARLEMAGNE. 

1. In establishing the provincial conventions under the royal 
envoys Charlemagne did not entirely abolish the authority of 
the ancient chief magistrates, the dukes and counts. They 
continued to command the troops of the province, and to make 
the levies in stated numbers from each district. Cavalry were 
not numerous in the imperial armies, twelve farms being 
taxed to furnish only one horseman with his armour and ac- 
coutrements. The province supplied six months' provisions 
to its complement of men, and the king maintained them du- 
ring the rest of the campaign. 

3. The engines for the attack and defence of towns were, as 
in former times, the ram, the balista, catapulta, testudo, &c. 
Charlemagne had his ships of war stationed in the mouths of 
all the larger rivers. He bestowed great attention on com- 
merce. The merchants of Italy and the south of France 
traded to the Levant, and exchanged the commodities of Eu- 
rope and Asia. Venice and Genoa were rising into commer- 
cial opulence; and the manufactures of wool, glass, and iron, 



SECT. Y. MODERN HISTORY. 18S 

were successfully cultivated in many of the principal towns in 
the south of Europe. 

3. The value of money was nearly the same as in the Ro- 
man empire in the age of Constantine the Great. The nume- 
rary livre, in the age of Charlemagne, was supposed to be a 
pound of silver, in value about 3 1, sterling of English money. 
At present the livre is worth 10^d English. Hence we ought 
to be cautious in forming our estimate of ancient money from 
its name. From the want of this caution have arisen the most 
erroneous ideas of the commerce, riches, and strength of the 
ancient kingdoms. 

4. The capitularia (statute hooks) of Charlemagne, com- 
piled into a body A. D. 827, were recovered from oblivion in 
1531 and 1543. They present many circumstances illustra- 
tive of the manners of the times. Unless in great cities there 
were no inns: the laws obliged every man to give accommoda- 
tion to travellers. The chief towns were built of wood. The 
state of the mechanic arts was very low in Europe. The Sa- 
racens had made more progress in them. Painting and sculp- 
ture Were only preserved from absolute extinction by the ex- 
isting remains of ancient art. Charlemagne appears to have 
been anxious for the improvement of music; and the Italians 
are said to have instructed his French performers in the art 
of playing on the organ. Architecture was studied and suc- 
cessfully cultivated in that style termed the Gothic, which 
admits of great beauty, elegance, and magnificence. The 
composition of Mosaic appears to have been an invention of 
those ages. 

5 The knowledge of letters was extremely low, and con- 
fined to a few of the ecclesiastics. Charlemagne gave the 
utmost encouragement to literature and the sciences, inviting 
ingenious and learned men into his dominions of France from 
Italy, and from the Britannic isles, which, in those dark ages, 
preserved more of the light of learning than any of the west- 
ern kingdoms. "Neque enim silenda laus Britannice, Scotia, 
et Hibernice, quce studio liber alium artium eo tempore antecelle- 
bant reliquis occidentalibus regnis; et cura prcesertim mona- 
chorum, qui literarum gloriam, alibi ant languentem nut de~ 



1§£ MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

pressam, in Us regionibus impigre suscitabant atque tuebantur." 
Murat. Antiq. Ital. Diss. 43. I must not omit the praise due 
to England, Scotland, and Ireland, which at that time excel- 
led the other western kingdoms in the study of the liberal arts; 
and especially to the monks, by whose care and diligence the ho- 
nour of literature, which in other countries was either lan- 
guishing or depressed, was revived and protected in these." 
The scarcity of books in those times, and the nature of their 
subjects, as legends, lives of the saints, &c. evince the nar- 
row diffusion of literature. 

6. The pecuniary fines for homicide, the ordeal or judgment 
of God, and judicial combat, were striking peculiarities in 
the laws and manners of the northern nations, and particu- 
larly of the Franks. By this warlike, barbarous people, re- 
venge was esteemed honourable and meritorious. The high- 
spirited warrior chastised or vindicated with his OAvn hand 
the injuries which he had received or inflicted. The magis- 
trate interfered, not to punish, but to reconcile, and was satis- 
fied if he could persuade the aggressor to pay, and the inju- 
red party to accept, the moderate fine which was imposed as 
the price of blood, and of which the measure was estimated 
according to the rank, the sex, and the country, of the person 
slain. But increasing civilisation abolished those barbarous 
distinctions. We have remarked the equal severity of the 
laws of the Visigoths, in the crimes of murder and robbery, 
and even among the Franks, in the age of Charlemagne, de- 
liberate murder was punished with death. 

7. By their ancient laws, a party accused of any crime was 
allowed to produce compurgators, or a certain number of wit- 
nesses, according to the measure of the offence; and if these 
declared upon oath their belief of his innocence, it was held 
a sufficient exculpation. Seventy-two compurgators were re- 
quired to acquit a murderer or an incendiary. The flagrant 
perjuries occasioned by this absurd practice probably gave 
rise to the trial by ordeal, which was termed, as it was be- 
lieved to be, the judgment of God. The criminal was order- 
ed, at the option of the judge, to prove his innocence or guilt, 
by the ordeal of cold water, of boiling water, or red hot iron. 
He was tied hand and foot, and thrown into a pool; to sink or 



SECT. V. MODERN HISTORY. jgg 

swim; he was made to fetch a ring from the bottom of a ves- 
sel of boiling water, or to walk barefooted over burning 
ploughshares. History records examples of those wonderful 
experiments having been made without injury or pain. 

S. Another peculiarity of the laws and manners of the 
northern nations was judicial combat. Both in civil suits 
and in the trial of crimes, the party destitute of legal proofs 
might challenge his antagonist to mortal combat, and rest the 
cause upon its issue. This sanguinary and most iniquitous 
custom, which may be traced to this day in the practice of 
duelling, had the authority of law in the court of the consta- 
ble and marshal, even in the last century, in France and 
England. 



SECTION VI. 

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH 
BEFORE THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 

1. The Arian and Pelagian heresies divided the christian 
church for many ages. In the fourth century, Arius, a pres- 
byter of Alexandria, maintained the separate and inferior na- 
ture of the second person of the trinity, regarding Christ as 
the noblest of created beings, through whose agency the Cre^ 
ator had formed the universe. His doctrine was condemned 
in the council of Nice, held by Constantine A. D. 325 , who 
afterward became a convert to it. For many centuries it 
had an extensive influence, and produced the sects of the 
Eunomians, Semi-Arians, Eusebians, &c. 

2. In the beginning of the fifth century Pelagius and Cse- 
lestius, the former a native of Britain, the latter of Ireland, 
denied the doctrine of original sin, and the necessity of divine 
grace to enlighten the understanding, and purify the heart; 
and maintained the sufficiency of man's natural powers for 
the attainment of the highest degrees of piety and virtue. 
These tenets were ably combated by St. Augustine, and con- 
demned by an ecclesiastical council, but have ever continued 
to find many supporters. 



186 MODERN HISTORY. PAaT II# 

3. The most obstinate source of controversy in those ages 
was the worship of images,* a practice which was at first op- 
posed by the clergy, but was afterward, from interested mo- 
tives, countenanced and vindicated by them. It was, however, 
long a subject of division in the church. The emperor Leo 
the Isaurian, A. D. 727, attempted to suppress this idolatry, 
by the destruction of every statue and picture found in the 
churches, and by punishment of their worshippers; but this 
intemperate zeal rather increased than repressed the super- 
stition. His son Constantine Copronymus, with wiser policy, 
procured its condemnation by the church. 

*. From the doctrines of the Platonic and Stoic philosophy, 
which recommended the purification of the soul, by redeem- 
ing it from its subjection to the senses, arose the system of 
penances, mortification, religious sequestration, and mona- 
chism. After Constantine had put an end to the persecution 
of the Christians, many conceived it a duty to procure for 
themselves voluntary grievances and sufferings. They retired 
into caves and hermitages, and there practised the most rigor- 
ous mortifications of the flesh, by fasting, scourging, vigils, 
&c. This phrenzy first showed itself in Egypt in the fourth 
century, whence it spread over all the east, a great part of 
Africa, and within the limits of the bishopric of Rome. In 
the time of Theodosius these devotees began to form com- 
munities or camobia, each associate binding himself by oath 
to observe the rules of his order. St. Benedict introduced 
monachism into Italy, under the reign of Totila; and his or- 
der, the Benedictine, soon became extremely numerous and 
opulent. Many rich donations were made by the devout 
and charitable, who believed that they profited by the prayers 
of the monks. Benedict sent colonies into Sicily and France, 
whence they soon spread over all Europe. 

5. In the east the monaehi solitarii (solitary monks) were 
first incorporated into ccenobia by St. Basil, bishop of Csesa- 
rea, in the middle of the fourth century; and some time before 
that period the first monasteries for women were founded in 
Egypt by the sister of St. Pacomo. From these, in the fol- 
lowing age, sprung a variety of orders, under different rules. 
The rule of the canons regular was framed after the model of 



SECT. 6. MODERN HISTORY. 187 

the apostolic life. To chastity, obedience, and poverty, the 
mendicants added the obligation of begging alms. The niili- 
tary religious orders were unknown till the age of the holy 
wars. (Sect. XVII, § 3.) The monastic fraternities owed 
their reputation chiefly to the little literary knowledge which* 
in those ages of ignorance, they exclusively possessed. 

For the origin of monachism, see Varieties of Literature*, 
by JJ'Israeli. 

6. In the fifth century arose a set of fanatics termed sty- 
lites, or pillar-saints, who passed their lives on the tops of pil- 
lars of various heights. Simeon of Syria lived thirty-seven 
years, and died on a pillar sixty feet high. This phrensy pre- 
vailed in the east for many centuries. 

For a curious account of the fanaticism of the Hindoos, 
see Tennant's Indian Recreations. 

7. Auricular confession, which had been abolished in the 
east in the fourth century, began to be in use in the west in 
the age of Charlemagne, and has ever since prevailed in the 
llomish church. The canonization of saints was, for near 
twelve centuries, practised by every bishop. Pope Alexander 
III, one of the most vitious of men, first claimed and assu- 
med this right, as the exclusive privilege of the successor of 
St. Peter. 

8. The conquests of Charlemagne spread Christianity in 
the north of Europe; but all beyond the limits of his conquests 
was idolatrous. Britain and Ireland had received tiie light 
of Christianity at an earlier period; but it was afterward ex- 
tinguished, and again revived under the Saxon heptarchyc 



SECTION VII. 

EMPIRE OF THE WEST UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF 
CHARLEMAGNE. 

1. The empire of Charlemagne, raised and supported solely 
by his abilities, fell to pieces under his weak posterity. Lewis 
(Ic Debonnaire), the only surviver of his lawfal sohs, was 

Aa 



iSS MODERN HISTORY. J>AB,T II. 

consecrated emperor and king of the Franks at Aix la Cha- 
pelle, A. D. 816. Among the first acts of his reign was the 
partition of his dominions among his children. To Pepin, 
his second son, he gave Aquitaine, a third part of the south 
of France; to Lewis, the youngest, Bavaria; and he associ- 
ated his eldest son Lotharius with himself in the government 
of the rest. The three princes quarrelled among themselves, 
agreeing in nothing but in hostility against their father. They 
made open war against him, supported by Pope Gregory IV. 
The pretence was, that the emperor having a younger son, 
Charles, born after this partition of his states, wanted to give 
him likewise a share, which could not be done but at the ex- 
pense of his elder brothers. Lewis was compelled to surren- 
der himself a prisoner to his rebellious sons. They confined 
him for a year to a monastery, till, on a new quarrel between 
Lewis the younger and Pepin, Lotharius once more restored 
his father to the throne: but his spirits were broken, his 
health was decayed, and he finished, soon after, an inglorious 
and turbulent reign, A. D. 840. 

2. The dissentions of the brothers still continued. Lotha- 
rius, now emperor, and Pepin his brother's son, having taken 
up arms against the two other sons of Lewis le Lebonnaire, 
Lewis of Bavaria and Charles the Bald, were defeated by 
them in the battle of Fontenai, where 100000 are said to have 
fallen in the field. The church in those times was a prime 
organ of the civil policy. A council of bishops immediately 
assembled, and solemnly deposed Lotharius. At the same 
time they assumed an equal authority over his conquerors, 
whom they -permitted to reign, on the express condition of sub- 
missive obedience to the supreme spiritual authority. Yet Lo- 
tharius, though excommunicated and deposed, found means to 
accommodate matters with his brothers, who agreed to a new 
partition of the empire. By the treaty of Verdun, A. D. 843, 
the western part of France, termed Neustria and Aquitaine, 
was assigned to Charles the Bald; Lotharius, with the title of 
emperor, had the nominal sovereignty of Italy, and the real 
territory of Lorraine, Franche Compte, Provence, and the 
Lyonnois; the share of Lewis was the kingdom of Germany, 



SECT. 7. MODERN HISTORY. ±gg 

3. Thus was Germany finally separated from the empire of 
the Franks. On the death of Lotharius, Charles the Bald 
assumed the empire, or, as is said, purchased it from pope 
John VIII, upon condition of holding it as vassal to the holy 
see. This prince, after a weak and inglorious reign, died by 
poison, A.D. 877. He was the first of the French monarchs 
who made dignities and titles hereditary. Under the distract- 
ed reigns of the Carlovingian kings the nobles attained great 
power, and commanded a formidable vassalage. They strength- 
ened themselves in their castles and fortresses, and bid defi- 
ance to the arm of government, while the country was rava- 
ged and desolated by their feuds. 

4. In the reign of Charles the Bald France was plundered 
by the Normans, a new race of Goths from Scandinavia, who 
had begun their depredations in the time of Charlemagne, 
and were only checked in their progress by the terror of his 
arms. They sailed up the Seine, and plundered Rouen, A. 
D. 843; while another fleet entering the Loire, laid waste and 
plundered the country in its vicinity, carrying into captivity 
men, women, and children. In the following year they at- 
tacked the coasts of England, Franee, and Spain, but were 
repelled from the last by the good conduct and courage of its 
Mahometan rulers. In 845 they entered the Elbe, plundered 
Hamburgh, and penetrated far into Germany. Eric, king of 
Denmark, who commanded the Normans, sent once more a 
fleet into the Seine, which advanced to Paris. Its inhabitants 
fled, and the city was burnt. Another fleet, with little resist- 
ance, pillaged Bordeaux. To avert the arms of those rava- 
gers, Charles the Bald bribed them with money; and his suc- 
cessor, Charles the Gross, yielded them a part of his Flemish 
dominions. These submissive acts were only incentives to 
fresh depredation. Paris was attacked a second time, but 
gallantly defended by count Odo or Eudes, and the venerable 
bishop Goslin. A truce was a second time concluded; but 
the barbarians only changed the scene of their attack: they 
besieged Sens, and plundered Burgundy. An assembly of the 
states held at Mentz deposed the unworthy Charles, and con- 
ferred the crown on the more deserving Eudes, who, during 



198 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

a reign of ten years, bravely withstood the Normans. A 
great part of the states of France, however, refused his title 
to the crown, and gave their allegiance to Charles surnamed 
the Simple. 

5. Rollo the Norman, in 912, compelled the king of France 
to yield him a large portion of the territory of Neustria, and 
to give him his daughter in marriage. The new kingdom was 
now called Normandy, of which Rouen was the capital. From 
those Norman warriors were descended the people who af- 
terward conquered England. 

SECTION VIII. 

EMPIRE OF THE EAST DURING THE EIGHTH AND NINTH 
CENTURIES. 

1. "While the new empire of the west was thus rapidly tend- 
ing to dissolution, the empire of Constantinople still retained 
a vestige of its ancient grandeur. It had lost its African and 
Syrian dependencies, and was plundered by the Saracens on 
the eastern frontier, and ravaged on the north and west by 
the Abari and Bulgarians. The capital, though splendid and 
refined, was a constant scene of rebellions and conspiracies; 
and the imperial family itself exhibited a series of the most 
horrid crimes and atrocities. One emperor was put to death 
in revenge of murder and incest; another was poisoned by his 
queen; a third was assassinated in the bath by his own domes- 
tics; a fourth tore out the eyes of his brothers; the empsess 
Irene, respectable for her talents, was infamous for the mur- 
der of her only son. Of such character was that series of 
princes who swayed the sceptre of the east nearly 200 years. 

2. In the latter part of this period a most violent contro- 
versy was maintained respecting the worship of images, which 
were alternately destroyed and replaced according to the hu- 
mour of the sovereign. The female sex was their most zea- 
lous supporter. This was not the only subject of division in 
the christian church; the doctrines of the Maniches were 
then extremely prevalent, and the sword was frequently em- 
ployed to supportand propagate their tenets. 



SECT. 9. MODERN HISTORY. 1 91 

3. The misfortunes of the empire were increased by an inva- 
sion of the Russians from the Palus Mceotis and Euxine. In the 
reign of Leo, namedfthe philosopher, the Turks, a new race of 
barbarians, of Scythian or Tartarian breed, began to make ef- 
fectual inroads on its territories. About the same time its 
domestic calamities were aggravated by the separation of the 
Greek from the Latin church, of which we shall treat under 
the following section. 

SECTION IX. 

STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CEN- 
TURIES. 

1. The popes had begun to acquire a temporal authority 
under Pepin le Bref and Charlemagne, from the donations of 
territory made by those princes, and they were now gradual- 
ly extending a spiritual jurisdiction over all the christian 
kingdoms. Nicholas I proclaimed to the whole" world his 
paramount judgment in appeal from the sentences of all 
spiritual judicatories; his power of assembling councils of the 
church, and of regulating it by the canons of those councils; 
the right of exercising his authority by legates in all the king- 
doms of Europe, and the control of the pope over all princes 
and governors. Literary imposture gave its support to these 
pretences. Certain spurious epistles were written in the name 
of Isidorus, with the design of proving the justice of the claims 
of the pope; and the forgery of those epistles was not com- 
pletely exposed till the sixteenth century. Among the pre- 
rogatives of the popes was the regulation of the marriages of 
all the crowned heads, by the extreme extension of the prohi- 
bitions of the canon law, with which they alone had the 
power of dispensing. 

2. One extraordinary event (if true) afforded, in the ninth 
century, a ludicrous interruption to the boasted succession of 
regular bishops from the days of St. Peter, the election of a fe- 
male pope, who is said to have ably governed the church for 
three years, till detected by the birth of a child. Till the re- 



192 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

formation of religion by Luther this event was not regarded 
by the catholics as incredible, nor disgraceful to the church: 
since that time its truth or falsehood hafc been the subject of 
keen controversy between the protestants and catholics; and 
the evidence for its falsehood seems to preponderate. 

3. The church was thus gradually extending its influence., 
and its head arrogating the control over sovereign princes, 
who, by a singular interchange of character, seem, in those 
ages, to have fixed their chief attention on spiritual con- 
cerns. Kings, dukes, and counts neglecting their temporal 
duties, shut themselves up in cloisters, and spent their lives 
in prayers and penances. Ecclesiastics were employed in all 
the departments of secular government; they alone conducted 
all public measures and state negotiations, which of course 
they directed to the great objects of advancing the interests 
of the church, and establishing the paramount authority of 
the holy see. 

4. At this period, however, when the popedom seemed to 
■^ have attainfe% its highest ascendancy, it suffered a severe 

wound in that remarkable schism which separated the patri- 
archates of Rome and Constantinople, or the Greek and La- 
tin churches. The .Roman pontiff had hitherto claimed the 
right of nominating the patriarch of Constantinople. The em- 
peror Michael III denied this right, and deposing the pope's 
patriarch, Ignatius, appointed the celebrated Photius in his 
stead. Pope Nicholas 1 resenting this affront with a high spi- 
rit, deposed and excommunicated Photius, A.D. 863, who, 
in his turn, pronounced a similar sentence against the pope. 
The church was divided, each patriarch being supported by 
many bishops and their dependent clergy. The Greek and La- 
tin bishops had long differed in many points of practice and 
discipline, as the celibacy of the clergy, the shaving of their 
beards, &c.; but in reality the prime source of division was 
the ambition of the rival pontiffs, and the jealousy of the Greek 
emperors, unwilling to admit the control of Rome, and ob- 
stinately asserting evepy prerogative which they conceived 
to be annexed to the capital of the Roman empire. As neither 



SECT. 10. MODERN HISTORY. 193 

party would yield in its pretensions, the division of the Greek 
and Latin churches beeame permanent from this time. 

5. Amid those ambitious contests for ecclesiastical power 
and pre-eminence, the christian religion was disgraced, both 
by the practice and by the principles of its teachers. Wordly 
ambition, gross voluptuousness, and grosser ignorance, cha- 
racterized all ranks of the clergy; and the open sale of bene- 
fices placed them often in the hands of the basest and most 
profligate of men. Yet the character of Photius forms an il- 
lustrious exception. Though bred a statesman and a soldier, 
and in both these respects of great reputation, he attained, by 
his singular abilities, learning, and worth, the highest dignity 
of the church. His Bibliotheca is a monument of the most va- 
rious knowledge, erudition, and critical judgment. 

SECTION X. 

OF THE SA.RA.CENS IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 

1. In the beginning of the eighth century the Saracens sub- 
verted the monarchy of the Visigoths in Spain, and easily 
overran the country. They had lately founded in Africa the 
empire of Morocco, which was governed by Muza, viceroy of 
the caliph Valid Almanzor. Muza sent his general Tariph 
into Spain, who, in one memorable battle, fought A. D. 713, 
stripped the Gothic king Rodrigo of his crown and life. The 
conquerors, satisfied with the sovereignty of the country, left 
the vanquished Goths in possession of their property, laws, and 
religion. Abdallah the Moor married the widow of Rodrigo, 
hence the two nations of Spain and Morocco formed a per- 
fect union. One small part of the rocky country of Asturia 
alone adhered to its christian prince, Pelagius, who maintained 
his little sovereignty, and transmitted it inviolate to his suc- 
cessors. I 

2. The Moors pushed their conquests beyond the Pyrennees; 
but division arising among their emirs, and civil wars ensuing, 
Lewis le Debonnaire took advantage of the turbulent state of 
the country, and invaded and seized Barcelona. The Moorish 



194 MODERN HISTORY. PAaT M , 

sovereignty in the north of Spain was weakened by throwing 
off its dependence on the caliphs; and in this juncture the 
christian soveignty of the Asturias, under Alphonso the Chaste, 
began to make vigorous encroachments on the teritory of the 
Moors. Navarre and Arragon, rous d by this example, chose 
each a christian king, and boldly asserted their liberty and in- 
dependence. 

3. While the Moors of Spain were thus losing ground in 
the north, they were highly flourishing in the southern parts 
of the kingdom. Abdalrahman, the last heir of the family of 
the Ommiades (the Abassidse now enjoying the caliphate), was 
recognised as the true representative of the ancient line by the 
southern Moors. He fixed the seat of his governmet at Cor- 
dova, which, for two centuries from that time, was the capital 
of a splendid monarchy. This period, from the middle of the 
eighth to the middle of the tenth century, is the most brilliant 
sera of Arabian magnificence. Whilst Haroun Alrasohid made 
Bagdat illustrious by the splendour of the arts and sciences, the 
Moors of Cordova vied with their brethren of Asia in the 
same honourable pursuits, and were undoubtedly at this period 
the most enlightened of the states of Europe. Under a series 
of able princes they gained the highest reputation, both in 
arts and arms, of all the nations of the west. 

4. The Saracens were at this time extending their con- 
quests in almost every quarter of the world. The Mahome- 
tan religion was professed over a great part of India, and all 
along the eastern and Mediterranean coast of Africa. The 
African Saracens invaded Sicily, and projected the conquest 
of Italy. They actually laid siege to Rome, which was nobly 
defended by pope Leo IV. They were repulsed, their ships 
were dispersed by a storm, and their army was cut to pieces, 
A.D. 848. 

5. The Saracens might have raised an immense empire, if 
they had acknowledged only one head; but their states were 
always disunited. Egypt, Morocco, Spain, India, had all their 
separate sovereigns, who continued to respect the caliph of 
Bagdat as the successor of the prophet, but acknowledged no 
temporal subjection to his government. 



sect. 11. MODERN HISTORY. 195 

SECTION XI. x 

EMPIKE OF THE WEST AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND 
ELEVENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The empire founded by Charlemagne now subsisted 
only in name. Arnold, a bastard son of Carloman, possess- 
ed Germany. Italy was divided between Guy duke of Sjfo- 
letto and Berengarius duke of Priuli, who had received those 
dutchies from Charles the bald. France, though claimed by 
Arnold, was governed by Eudes. Thus the empire in reality 
consisted only of a part of Germany, while France, Spain, 
Italy, Burgundy, and the countries between the Maes and 
Rhine, where all subject to different powers. The emperors 
were at this time elected by the bishops and grandees, all of 
whom claimed a voice. In this manner Lewis the son of 
Arnold, the last of the blood of Charlemagne, was chosen 
emperor after the death of his father. On his demise, Otho 
duke of Saxony, hj his credit with his brother grandees, con- 
ferred the empire on Conrad duke of Franconia, at whose 
death Henry, surnamed the Fowler, son of the same duke 
Otko, was elected emperor, A. D. 918. 

2. Henry I (the Fowler), a prince of great abilities, intro- 
duced order and good government into the empire. He uni- 
ted the grandees, and curbed their usurpations ; baiit, embel- 
lished, and fortified the cities ; and enforced, with great 
rigour, the execution of the laws, in the repression of all 
enormities. He had been consecrated by his own bishops, 
and maintained no correspondence with the see of Rome. 

3. His son Otho (the Great), A. D. 938, again united Italy 
to the empire, and kept the popedom in complete subjection. 
He made Denmark tributary to the imperial crown, annexed 
the crown of Bohemia to his own dominions, and seemed to 
aim at a paramount authority over all the sovereigns of 
Europe. 

4. Otho owed his ascendancy in Italy to the disorders of 
the papacy. Formosus, twice excommunicated by pope John 
VIII, had arrived at the triple crown. On his death, his 

is b 



196 MODERN HISTORY, tart i; 

rival, pope Stephen VII, caused his body to be dug out 
of the grave, and, after trial for his crimes, condemned it 
to be flung into the Tiber. The friends of Formosus had 
Interest to procure the deposition of Stephen, who was 
strangled in prison. They sought and found his body, and 
buried it. A succeeding pope, Sergius III, again dug up this 
ill-fated carcase, and threw it into the Tiber. Two infamous 
women, Marozia and Theodora, managed the popedom for 
many years, and filled the chair of St. Peter with their own 
gallants, or their adulterous offspring. Such was the state 
of the holy see, when Berengarius duke of Priuli disputed the 
sovereignty of Italy with Hugh of Aries. The Italian states 
and pope John XII, who took part against Berengarius, invi- 
ted Otho to compose the disorders of the country. He 
entered Italy, defeated Berengarius, and was consecrated em- 
peror by the pope, with the titles of Ccesar and Augustus ; in 
return for which honours he confirmed the donations made to 
the holy see by his predecessors, Pepin, Charlemagne, and 
Lewis the Debonnaire, A. D. 962. 

5. But John XII was false to his new ally. He made his 
peace with Berengarius, and both turned their arms against 
the emperor. Otho flew back to Rome, and revenged himself 
by the trial and deposition of the pope ; but he had seareely 
left the city, when John, by the aid of his party, displaced his 
rival Leo VIII. Otho once more returned, and took exem- 
plary vengeance on his enemies, by hanging one half of the 
senate. Calling together the lateran council., he created a 
new pope, and obtained from the assembled bishops a solemn 
acknowledgment of the absolute right of the emperor to elect 
to the papacy, to give the investiture of the crown of Italy, 
and to nominate to all vacant bishoprics; concessions ob- 
served no longer than while the emperor was present to en- 
force them. 

6. Such was the state of Rome and Italy under Otho the 
Great ; and it continued to be much the same under his suc- 
cessors for a century. The emperors asserted their sove- 
reignty over Italy and the popedom, though with a constant 
resistance on the part of the Romans, and a general repug- 
nance of the pope, when once established. In those ages of 



sect. 22. MODERN HISTORY. £g#> 

ecclesiastical profligacy, it was not unusual to put up the 
popedom to sale. Benedict VIII and John XIX, two brothers, 
publicly bought the chair of St. Peter, one after the other j 
and, to keep it in their family, it was purchased afterward 
hj their friends for Benedict IX, a child of twelve years of 
age. Three popes, each pretending regular election and equal 
right, agreed firs! to divide the revenues between them, and 
afterward sold all their shares to a fourth. 

7. The emperor Henry III, a prince of great ability, stre- 
nuously vindicated his right to supply the pontifical chair, 
and created three successive popes without opposition. 



SECTION XII. 

HISTORY OF BRITAIN, FROM ITS EARLIEST PERIOD DAWN 
TO THE NORMAL CONQUEST. 

1. The history of Britain has been postponed to this time, 
that it may be considered in one connected view, from its 
earliest period to the end of the Anglo-Saxon government. 

We strive not to pierce through that mist of obscurity 
which veils the original population of the British isles ,• re- 
marking only, as a matter of high probability, that they 
derived their first inhabitants from the Celtse of Gaul. 
Their authentic history commences with the first Roman 
invasion; and we learn from Csesar and Tacitus, that the 
country was then advanced far beyond the savage state of 
society. It was divided into a number of small independent 
sovereignties, each prince having a regular army and a fixed 
revenue. The manners, language, and religion of the people, 
were the same as those of the Gallic Celtse. The religion 
was the druidical system, whose influence pervaded every 
department of the government, and, by its power over the 
minds of the people, supplied the imperfection of laws. 

2. Julius Caesar, after the conquest of Gaul, turned his 
eyes toward Britain. He landed on the southern coast of the 
island, 55 A. C; and meeting with most obstinate resistance, 
though on the whole gaining some advantage, he found him- 



198 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

self obliged, after a short campaign, to withdraw for the 
winter into Gaul. He returned in the following summer with 
a great increase of force, an army of 20000 foot, a competent 
body of horse, and a fleet of 300 sail. The independent 
chiefs of the Britons united their forces under Cassibelanus 
king of the Trinobantes, and, encountering the legions with 
great resolution, displayed all the ability of practised war- 
riors. But the contest was vain. Csesar advanced into the 
country, burnt Verulamium, the capital of Cassibelanus, and, 
after forcing the Britons into articles of submission, returned 
to Gaul. 

3. The domestic disorders of Italy gave tranquillity to the 
Britons for near a century ; but, in the reign of Claudius, the 
conquest of the island was determined. The emperor landed 
in Britain, and compelled the submission of the south-eastern 
provinces. Ostorius Scapula defeated Caractacus, who was 
sent prisoner to Rome. Suetonius Paulinus, the general of 
Nero, destroyed Mona (Anglesey, or, as others think, Man) 
the centre of the druidical superstition. The Iceni (inhabi- 
tants of Norfolk and Suffolk) under their queen Boadicea, 
attacked several of the Roman settlements. London, with 
its Roman garrison, was burnt to ashes. But a decisive bat- 
tle ensued, in which 80000 of the Britons fell in the field, 
A. D. 61. Thirty years after, in the reign of Titus, the reduc- 
tion of the island was completed by the Roman general, 
Julius Agricola. He secured the Roman province against 
invasion from the Caledonians, by walls and garrisons ', and 
reconciled the southern inhabitants to the government of 
their conquerors, by the introduction of Roman arts and 
improvements. Under Severus the Roman province was 
extended far into the north of Scotland. 

4. With the decline of the Roman power in the west, the 
southern Britons recovered their liberty, but it was only to 
become the object of incessant predatory invasion from their 
brethren of the north. The Romans, after rebuilding the 
wall of Severus, finally bid adieu to Britain, A. D. 448. The 
Picts and Caledonians now broke down upon the south, rava- 
ging and desolating the country, without a purpose of con^- 
quest, and merely, as it appears, for the supply of their tenv* 



sect. 12. MODERN HISTORY. $99 

porary wants. After repeated application for aid from Rome, 
without success, the Britons meanly solicited the Saxons for 
succour and protection. 

5. The Saxons received the embassy with great satisfac- 
tion. Britain hud been long known to them in their piratical 
voyages to its coasts. They landed to the amount of 1600, un- 
der the command of Hengist and Horsa, A. D. 450 ; and join- 
ing the South Britons, soon compelled the Scots to retire to 
their mountains. They next turned their thoughts to the en- 
tire reduction of the Britons, and received large reinforce- 
ments 01 their countrymen. After an obstinate contest of near 
150 years they reduced the whole of England under the Sax- 
on government. Seven distinct provinces became as many 
independent kingdoms. 

6. The history of the Saxon heptarchy is uninteresting, 
from its obscurity and confusion. It is sufficient to mark the 
duration of the several kingdoms, till their union under Eg- 
bert. Kent began in &55, and lasted, under seventeen princes, 
till 827, when it was subdued by the West Saxons. Under 
Ethelbert, one of its kings, the Saxons were converted to 
ehristianity by the monk Augustine. Northumberland began 
in 597, and lasted, under twenty-three kings, till 792. East 
Anglia began in 575, and ended in 793. Mercia subsisted 
from 582 to 827. Essex had fourteen princes, from 527 to 7&7. 
Sussex had five kings before its reduction under the dominion 
of the West Saxons, about 600. Wessex (the country of the 
"West-Saxons) began in 519, and had not subsisted above 
eighty years, when Cadwalla, king of Wessex, conquered Sus- 
sex, and annexed it to his dominions. As there ivas no fixed 
rule of succession, it was the policy of the Saxon princes to 
put to death all the rivals of their intended successor. From 
this cause, and from the passion for celibacy, the royal fami- 
lies were nearly extinguished in the kingdoms of the heptar- 
chy ; and Egbert, prince of the West Saxons, remained the 
sole surviving descendant of the Saxon conquerors of Britain. 
This circumstance, so favourable to his ambition, prompted 
him to attempt the conquest of the heptarchy ; and he suc- 
ceeded in the enterprize. By his victorious arms and judicious 



200 MODERN HISTORY. ?Art li. 

policy all the separate states were united into one great king- 
dom, A. D. 827, near 400 years after the first arrival of the 
Saxons in Britain. 

7. England, thus united, was far from enjoying tranquil- 
lity. The piratical Normans or Danes had for fifty years de- 
solated her coasts, and continued, for some centuries after 
this period, to be a perpetual scourge to the country. Under 
Alfred (the Great), grandson of Egbert, the kingdom was 
from this- cause reduced to extreme wretchedness. The hero- 
ic Alfred in one year defeated the Danes in eight battles ; 
but a new irruption of their countrymen forced him to solicit 
a peace, which those pirates constantly interrupted by new 
hostilities. Alfred was compelled to seek safety, for many 
months, in an obscure quarter of the country, till the disor- 
ders of the Danish army offered a fair opportunity of attack- 
ing them, which he improved, to the entire defeat of his ene- 
mies. He might have destroyed them all, but chose rather to 
spare and to incorporate them with his English subjects. 
This clemency did not restrain their countrymen from at- 
tempting a new invasion. They were again defeated, with im- 
mense loss i and the extreme severity which it was necessary 
to exercise against the vanquished had the effect of suspend- 
ing the Danish depredations for several years. 

8. Alfred, whether considered in his public or private cha- 
racter, deserves to be reckoned among the best and greatest 
of princes. He united the most enterprizing and heroic spi- 
rit with consummate prudence and moderation, the utmost 
vigour of authority with the most engaging gentleness of 
manner, the most exemplary justice with the greatest lenity, 
the talents of the statesman and the man of letters with the 
intrepid resolution and conduct of the general. He found the 
kingdom in the most miserable condition to which anarchy, 
domestic barbarism, and foreign hostility, could reduce it : 
he brought it to a pitch of eminence, surpassing, in many re- 
spects, the situation of its cotemporary nations. 

9. Alfred divided England into counties, with their subdivi- 
sions of hundreds and tithings. The tithing or decennary con- 
sisted of ten families, ov r which presided a tithing-man, or 
borg-holdcr ; and ten tithings composed the hundred. Every 



sect. 12, MODERN HISTORY. 

house-holder was answerable for his family, and the tithing- 
man for all within his tithing. In the decision of differences the 
tithing-man had the assistance of the rest of his decennary. 
An appeal lay from the decennary to the court of the hun- 
dred, which was assembled every four weeks ; and the cause 
was tried by a jury of twelve freeholders, sworn to do impar- 
tial justice. An annual meeting of the hundred was held for 
the regulation of the police of the district. The county 
court, superior to that of the hundred, and consisting of ail 
the freeholders, met twice a-year, after Michaelmas and 
Easter, to determine appeals from the hundreds, and settle 
disputes between the inhabitants of different hundreds. The 
ultimate appeal from all those courts lay to the king in coun- 
cil ; and the frequency of those appeals prompted Alfred 
to extreme circumspection in the appointment of his judges,, 
He composed, for the regulation of those courts, and of his 
kingdom, a body of laws, the basis of the common law of 
England. 

10. Alfred gave every encouragement to the cultivation of 
learning, as the best means of eradicating barbarism. He 
invited, from every quarter of Europe, the learned to reside 
in his dominions, established schools, and is said to have 
founded the university of Oxford. He was himself a 
most accomplished scholar for the age in which he lived 
as appears from the works which he composed: poetical 
apologues, the translation of the histories of Bede and Oro- 
sius, and of Boethius on the consolation of philosophy. In 
every view of his character we must regard Alfred the Great 
as one of the best and wisest men that ever occupied the 
regal seat. He died at the age of fifty-three, A. D. 901 af- 
ter a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half, 

11. The admirable institutions of Alfred were partially 
and feebly enforced under his successors ; and England, still 
a prey to the ravages of the Danes and intestine disorder, 
relapsed into confusion and barbarism. The reigns of Ed- 
ward the elder, the son of Alfred, and of his successors, 
Athelstan, Edmund, and Edred, were tumultuous and anar- 
chical. The clergy began to extend their authority over the 
throne, and a series of succeeding princes were the obse- 



202 MODERN HISTORY. part Si. 

quious slaves of their tyranny and ambition. In the reign of 
of Ethelred, A. D. 981, the Danes seriously projected the 
conquest of England; and, led by Sweyn king of Denmark, 
and Olaus king of Norway, made a formidable descent, won 
several important battles, and were restrained from the 
destruction of London only by a dastardly submission, and a 
promise of tribute to be paid by the inglorious Ethelred. 
The English nobility were ashamed of their prince, and, 
seeing no other relief to the kingdom, made a tender of the 
erown to the Danish monarch. On the death of Sweyn, Ethel- 
red attempted to regain his kingdom, but found in Canute, 
the son of Sweyn, a prince determined to support his claims. 
On the death of Ethelred, his son Edmund Ironside gallantly 
but ineffectually opposed Canute. At length a partition of 
the kingdom was made between Canute and Edmund, which, 
after a few months, the Danes annulled by the murder of Ed- 
mund, thus securing to their monarch Canute the throne of 
all England, A. D. 1017. Edmund left two children, Edgar 
Atheling, and Margaret, afterward wife to Malcolm Can- 
more, king of Scotland. 

12. Canute, the most powerful monarch of his time, 
sovereign of Denmark, Norway, arid England, swayed, for 
seventeen years, the sceptre of England with a firm and 
vigorous hand. He was severe in the beginning of his reign, 
while his government was insecure ; but mild and equitable, 
when possessed of a settled dominion. He left, A. D. 1036, 
three sons, Sweyn, who was crowned king of Norway, Harold, 
who succeeded to the throne of England and Hardicanute, 
sovereign of Denmark. Harold, a merciless tyrant, died in 
the fourth year of his reign, and was succeeded by Hardi- 
canute, who, after a violent administration of two years, died 
in a fit of debauch. The English seized this opportunity of 
shaking off the Danish yoke, and conferred the crown on Ed- 
ward, a younger son of Ethelred, rejecting the preferable 
right of Edgar Atheling, the son of Edmund, who, unfor- 
tunately for his pretensions, was then abroad in Hungary. 
Edward, surnamed the Confessor, A. D. 1041, reigned weakly 
and ingloriously for twenty-five years. The rebellious at- 
tempts of Godwin, earl of Wessex, aimed at nothing less than 



sect. 13. MODERN HISTORY. 203 

a usurpation of the crown ; and, on his death, his son Harold, 
cherishing secretly the same views of ambition, had the ad- 
dress to secure to his interest a very formidable party in the 
kingdom. Edward, to defeat those views, bequeathed the 
crown to William duke of Normandy, a prince whose great 
abilities and personal prowess had rendered his name illus- 
trious over Europe. 

13. On the death of Edward the Confessor, 1066, the 
usurper Harold took possession of the throne, which tlte in- 
trepid Norman determined immediately to reclaim as his in- 
heritance of right. He made the most formidable prepara* 
tions, aided, in this age of romantic enterprize, by many of the 
sovereign princes, and a vast body of the nobility, from the 
different continental kingdoms. A Norwegian fleet of 300 sail 
entered the Huinber (a river on the eastern coast of Eng- 
land). The troops were disembarked, and, after one suc- 
cessful engagement, were defeated by the English army in 
the interest of Harold. William landed his army on the coast 
of Sussex, to the amount of 60000 ; and the English, under 
Harold, flushed with their recent success, hastily advanced to 
meet him, being imprudently resolved to venture all on one 
decisive battle. The total rout and discomfiture of the Eng- 
lish army in the field of Hastings, on the 14th day of Octo- 
ber, 1066, and the death of Harold, after some fruitless at- 
tempts of further resistance, put William duke of Normandy 
in possession of the throne of England. 



SECTION XIII. 

or THE GOVERNMENT, LAW'S, AND MANNERS 0E THE 
ANGLO-SAXONS. 

1. The government, laws, and manners of the Anglo- 
Saxons have become a subject of inquiry to modern writers, 
as being supposed to have had influence in the formation of 
the British constitution. The government of the Saxons was 
the same as that of all the ancient Germanic nations ; and 
they naturally retained, in their new settlement in Britain, a 

c c - 



204 MODERN HISTORY, part if. 

policy similar to their accustomed usages. Their subordina- 
tion was chiefly military, the king having no more authority 
than what belonged to the general, or military leader. There 
was no strict rule of succession to the throne ; for though 
the king was generally chosen from the family of the last 
prince, yet the choice usually fell on the person of the best 
capacity for government. In some instances, the destination 
of the last sovereign regulated the choice. We know very 
little of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon government, or of the 
distinct rights of the sovereign and people. 

2. One institution, common to all the kingdoms of the 
heptarchy, was the wittenagemot, or assembly of the wise 
men, whose consent was requisite for enacting laws, and rati- 
fying the chief acts of public administration. The bishops 
and abbots formed a part of this assembly ; also the alder- 
men, or earls, and governors of counties. The wites, or wise 
men, are discriminated from the prelates and nobility ; and 
some have supposed them to have been the representatives of 
the commons. But we hear nothing of election or represen- 
tation in those times, and we must therefore presume that they 
were merely landholders, or men of considerable estate, who, 
from their weight and consequence in the country, were held 
entitled, without any election, to take a share in the public 
deliberations. 

3. The Anglo-Saxon government was extremely aristocra- 
tical; the regal authority being very limited, the rights of 
the people little known or regarded, and the nobility posses- 
sing much uneontrouled and lawless rule over their depen- 
dents. The offices of government were hereditary in their 
families, and they commanded the whole military force of 
their respective provinces. So strict was the clientela be- 
tween the nobles and their vassals, that the murder of a vas- 
sal wasvcompensated by a fine paid to his lord. 

4. There were three ranks of the people, the nobles, the 
free, and the slaves. The nobles were either the king's 
thanes, who held their lands directly from the sovereign, or 
less thanes, who held lands from the former. One law of 
Athelstan declared, that a merchant who had made three 
voyages on his own account was entitled to the dignity of 



sect. 13. MODERN HISTORY. 203 

thane ; another decreed the same rank to a ceorle, or hus- 
bandman, who was able to purchase live hides of land, and 
had a chapel, a kitchen, a hal!, and a bell. The eeorles, or 
freemen of the lower rank, occupied the farms of the thanes, 
for which they paid rent; and they were removable at the plea- 
sure of their lord. The slaves or villains were either em- 
ployed in domestic purposes, or in cultivating the lands. A 
master was fined for the murder' of his slave ; and if he mutila- 
ted him, the slave recovered his freedom. 

5. Under this aristocratical government there were some 
traces of the ancient Germanic democracy. The courts of 
the decennary, the hundred, and the county, were a consi- 
derable restraint on the power of the nobles. In the county- 
courts the freeholders met twice a-year, to determine appeals 
by the majority of suffrages. The alderman presided in those 
courts, but had no vote : he received a third of the fines, the 
remaining two-thirds devolving to the king, which was a great 
part of the royal revenue. Pecuniary fines were the ordinary 
atonement for every species of crime, and the modes of proof 
were the ordeal by fire or water, or by compurgators. (Fart 
II, Sect. V, § 7.) 

6. As to the military force, the expenee of defending the 
state lay equally on all the land, e\ery five hides or ploughs 
being taxed to furnish a soldier. There were 243600 hides in 
England, consequently the ordinary military force consisted 
of 48720 men. 

7. The king's revenue, beside the fines imposed by the 
courts, consisted partly of his demesnes or property-lands, 
which were extensive, and partly in imposts on boroughs and 
sea-ports. The Danegelt was a tax imposed by the states, 
either for payment of tribute exacted by the Danes, or for 
defending the kingdom against them. By the custom of ga- 
velkind, the land was divided equally among all the male 
children of the deceased proprietor. Book-land was that' 
which was held by charter, and folk-land what was held by 
tenants removable at pleasure. 

8 The Anglo-Saxons were behind the Normans in every 
point of civilization ; and the conquest was therefore to them 
a real advantage, as it led to material improvement in arts, 
science, government, and laws. 



206 MODERN HISTORY. 



SECTION XIV. 



STATE OF EUROPE DURING THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND 
TWELFTH CENTURIES. 

1. France, from the extent and splendour of its dominion 
under Charlemagne, had dwindled to a shadow under his 
weak posterity. At the end of the Carlovingian period France 
comprehended neither Normandy, Dauphine, nor Provence. 
On the death of Lewis V, (Faineant), the crown ought to have 
devolved on his Tinele, Charles of Brabant, as the last male of 
the race of Charlemagne ; but Hugh Capet, lord of Picardy 
and Champagne, the most powerful of the French nobles, was 
elected sovereign by the voice of his brother peers, A. D. 987. 
The kingdom, torn by parties, suffered much domestic mise- 
ry under the reign of Hugh, and that of his successor Robert, 
who was the victim of papal tyranny, for daring to marry 
a distant cousin without the dispensation of the church. 

2. The prevailing passion of the times was pilgrimage and 
chivalrous enterprize. In this career of adventure the Nor- 
mans most remarkably distinguished themselves. In 983 they 
relieved the prince of Salerno, by expelling the Saracens from 
his territory. They did a similar service to pope Benedict 
VIII, and the duke of Capua ; while another band of their 
countrymen fought first against the Greeks, and afterward 
against the popes, always selling their services to those who 
best rewarded them. William Fierabras, and his brothers, 
Humphrey, Robert, and Richard, kept the pope a prisoner 
at Benevento for a year, and forced the court of Rome to 
yield Capua to Richard, and Apulia and Calabria to Robert, 
with the investiture of Sicily, if he should gain the country 
from the Saracens, hi 1101 Rogero the Norman completed 
the conquest of Sicily, of which the popes continued to be the 
lords paramount. 

3. The north of Europe was in those times extremely bar- 
barous. Russia received the christian religion in the eighth 
century. Sweden, after its conversion in the ninth century, 
relapsed into idolatry, and also Hungary and Bohemia. The 



sect. 14. MODERN HISTORY. 207" 

Constantinopolitan empire defended its frontiers with diffi- 
culty against the Bulgarians on the west, and against the 
Turks and Arabians on the east and north. 

*. In Italy, except the territory of the popedom, the prin- 
cipalities of the independent nobles, and the states of Venice 
and Genoa, the greater part of the country was now in the 
possession of the Normans. Venice and Genoa were rising 
gradually to great opulence from commerce. Venice was for 
some ages tributary to the emperors of Germany. In the 
tenth century its doge assumed the title of duke of Dalmatia, 
of which the republic had acquired the property by conquest, 
as well as of Istria, Spalatro, Ragusa, and Narenza. 

5. Spain was chiefly possessed by the Moors; the chris- 
tians retaining only about a fourth of the kingdom, namely, 
Asturia, part of Castile and Catalonia, Navarre, and Arragon. 
Portugal was likewise occupied by the Moors. Their capital 
was Cordova, the seat of luxury and magnificence. In the 
tenth century the Moorish dominions were split among a 
number of petty sovereigns, who were constantly at war with 
one another. Such, unfortunately, was likewise the situation 
of the christian part of the kingdom ; and it was no uncom- 
mon policy for the christian princes to form alliances with 
the Moors against one another. Beside these, the country 
abounded with independent lords, who made war their pro- 
fession, and performed the office of champions in deciding the 
quarrels of princes, or enlisted themselves in their service, 
with all their vassals and attendants. Of these, termed ca~ 
valleros andantes, or knights-errant, the most distinguished 
was Rodrigo the Cid, who undertook for his sovereign, Al- 
phonso king of Old Castile, to conquer the kingdom of New 
Castile, and achieved it with success, obtaining the govern- 
ment of Valencia as the reward of his services. 

6. The contentions between the imperial and papal powers 
make a distinguished figure in those ages. Henry III vindi- 
cated the imperial right to fill the chair of St. Peter, and 
nominated three successive popes, without the intervention 
of a council of the church. But in the minority of his son 
Henry IV this right was frequently interrupted, and Alex- 
ander II kept his seat, though the emperor named another 



%Qg MODERN HISTORY. fArt 11. 

in his place. It was the lot of this emperor to experience 
the utmost extent of papal insolence and tyranny. After a 
spirited contest with Gregory VII, in which the pope was 
twice his prisoner, and the emperor as often excommunica- 
ted and deposed, Henry fell at length the victim of ecclesias- 
tical vengeance. Urban II, a successor of Gregory, prompted 
the two sons of Henry to rebel against their father; and his 
misfortunes were terminated by imprisonment and death in 
1106. The same contests went on under a succession of 
popes and emperors, but. ended commonly in favour of the 
former. Frederic T (Barbarossa) a prince of high spirit, 
after an indignant denial of the supremacy of Alexander III, 
and a refusal of the customary homage, was at length com- 
pelled to kiss his feet, and appease his holiness by a large 
cession of territory. Pope Celestinus kicked off the imperial 
crown of Henry VI, while doing homage on his knees, but 
made amends for this insolence by the gift of Naples and 
Sicily, from which countries Henry had expelled the Nor- 
mans. Those territories now became an appanage of the 
empire, 1194. The succeeding popes rose on the pretensions 
of their predecessors, till at length Innocent III, in the be- 
ginning of the thirteenth century, established the power of 
the popedom on a settled basis, and obtained a positive ac- 
knowledgment of the papal supremacy, or the right principa- 
liter etjinaliler (principally and finally) to confer the impe- 
rial crown. It was the same pope Innocent, who (as we shall 
presently Had) disposed of the crown of England in the reign 
of the tyrant John. 



SECTION XV. ■, 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE ELEVENTH, TWELFTH, AND 
FART OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The consequence of the battle of Hastings was the sub- 
mission of all England to William the Conqueror. The 
character of this prince was spirited, haughty, and tyranni- 
cal, yet not without a portion of the generous affections. He 



sect. 15. MODERN HISTORY- 209 

disgusted his English subjects by the strong partiality which 
he showed to his Norman followers, preferring them to all 
offices of trust and dignity. A conspiracy arose from those 
discontents, which William defeated, and avenged with sig- 
nal rigour and cruelty. He determined henceforward to 
treat the English as a conquered people, a policy that invol- 
ved his reign in perpetual commotions, which, while they 
robbed him of all peace of mind, aggravated the tyranny of 
his disposition. To his own children he owed the severest 
of his troubles. His eldest son Robert rose in rebellion, to 
wrest from him the sovereignty of Maine ; and his foreign 
subjects took part with the rebel. William led against them 
an army of the English, and was on the point of perishing in 
light hy his son's hand. Philip 1 of France had aided this 
rebellion, which was avenged by William, who carried havoc 
and devastation into the heart of his kingdom, but was killed 
in the enterprize by a fall from his horse, 1087. He be- 
queathed England to William his second son ; to Robert he 
left Normandy ; and to Henry, his youngest son, the property 
of his mother Matilda. 

2. William the Conqueror introduced into England the 
feudal law, dividing the whole kingdom, except the royal 
demesnes, into baronies, and bestowing most oi* those on his 
Norman followers, under the tenure of military service. By 
the forest laws he reserved to himself the exclusive privilege 
of killing game over all the kingdom; a restriction resented 
by his subjects above every other mark of servitude. Pre- 
paratory to the introduction of the feudal tenures, he planned 
and accomplished a general survey of all the lands in the 
kingdom, with a distinct specification of their extent, nature, 
value, names of their proprietors, and an enumeration of 
every class of inhabitants who lived on them. This most 
valuable record, called Doomsday-book, is preserved in tlm 
English exchequer, and is now printed. 

3. William II (Rufus) inherited the vices, without any of 
the virtues, of his father. His reign is distinguished hy no 
event of importance, and, after the defeat of one conspiracy 
in its outset, presents nothing but a dull career of unresisted 
despotism. After a reign of thirteen vears he was killed 



210 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

when hunting by the random shot of an arrow, 1100. The 
croAvn of England would have devolved on his elder brother 
Robert ; but his absence on a crusade in Palestine made way 
for the unopposed succession of his younger brother Henry, 
who, by his marriage with Matilda, the niece of Edgar 
Atheling, united the last remnant of the Saxon with the 
Norman line. With most criminal ambition he now invaded 
his brother's dominions of Normandy ; and Robert, on his 
return, Avas defeated in battle, and detained for life a prison- 
er in England. The crimes of Henry were expiated by his 
misfortunes. His only son was drowned in his passage from 
Normandy. His daughter Matilda, married first to the 
emperor Henry V, and afterward to Geoffrey Plantagenet of 
Anjou, was destined to be his successor ; but the popularity 
of his nephew Stephen, soil of the count of Blois, defeated 
those intentions. Henry I died in Normandy, after a reign 
of thirty-live years, A. D. 1135; and, in spite of his destina- 
tion to Matilda, Stephen seized the vacant throne. The party 
of Matilda, headed by her natural brother, the earl of Glou- 
cester, engaged, defeated, and made Stephen prisoner. Ma- 
tilda in her turn mounted the throne; but, unpopular from 
the tyranny of her disposition, she was solemnly deposed by 
the prevailing party of her rival ; and Stephen was once more 
restored. He found, however, in Henry Plantagenet, the son 
of Matilda, a more formidable competitor. Of a noble and 
intrepid spirit, he resolved, while yet a boy, to reclaim his 
hereditary crown ; and, landing in England, won by his prow- 
ess, and the favour of a just cause, a great part of the king- 
dom to his interest. By treaty with Stephen, who was 
allowed to reign for life, he secured the succession at his 
death, which soon after ensued, 115*. 

4. Henry II, a prince in every sense worthy of the throne, 
began his reign with the reformation of all the abuses of the 
government of his predecessors ; revoking all impolitic grants, 
abolishing partial immunities, regulating the administration 
of justice, and establishing the freedem of the towns by char- 
ters, which are at this day the basis of the national liberty. 
Happy in the affections of his people, and powerful in the 
vast extent of additional territory which he enjoyed on the. 



sect. 15. MODERN HISTORY. 211 

continent in right of his father and of his wife, the heiress of 
a great portion of France, his reign had every promise of 
prosperity and happiness ; but from one fatal source those 
pleasing prospects were all destroyed. Thomas Becket was 
raised by Henry from obscurity to the office of chancellor of 
England. On the vacancy of the see of Canterbury the king, 
desirous of his aid in the correction of ecclesiastical abuses, 
conferred the primacy on his favourite j and the arrogant 
Becket availed himself of that authority to abase the prero- 
gative of his sovereign, and exalt the spiritual power above 
the crown. It was disputed, whether a priest could be tried for 
a murder, and punished by the civil court. It was determined 
in the affirmative by the council of Clarendon, against the 
opinion of Becket. Pope Alexander III annulled the decree 
of the council ; and Becket, who took part with the pope, was 
deprived by Henry of all his dignities and estates. He avenged 
himself by the excommunication of the king's ministers ; and 
Henry, in return, prohibited all intercourse with the see of 
Rome. At length both parties found it their interest to come 
to a good understanding. Becket was restored to favour, and 
reinstated in his primacy, when the increasing insolence of 
his demeanour drew from the king some hasty expressions of 
indignation, which his servants interpreted into a sentence 
of proscription, and, trusting that the deed would be grateful 
to their master, murdered the prelate while in the act of ce- 
lebrating vespers at the altar. For this shocking action Hen- 
ry expressed the regret which he sincerely felt, and the pope 
indulgently granted his pardon, on the assurance of his duti- 
ful obedience to the holy church. 

5. The most important event of the reign of Henry II was 
the conquest of Ireland. The Irish, an_ early civilized people, 
and among the first of the nations of the west who embraced 
the christian religion, were, by frequent invasions of the 
Danes, and their own domestic commotions, replunged into 
barbarism for many ages. In the twelfth century the kingdom 
consisted of five separate sovereignties, Ulster, Leinster, Mun- 
ster, Meath, and Connaught; but these were subdivided among 
an infinite number of petty chiefs, owning a very weak alle- 
giance to their respective sovereigns. Dermot Macmorrogh, 

d d 



212 MODERN HISTORY, part ii. 

expelled from his kingdom of Leinster for a rape on the daugh- 
ter of the king of Meath, sought protection from Henry, and 
engaged to become his feudatory, if he should recover his king- 
dom by the aid of the English. Henry empowered his subjects 
to invade Ireland, and, while Strongbow earl of Pembroke and 
his followers were laying waste the country, landed in the 
island in 1172, and received the submission of many of the in- 
dependent chiefs. Roderick O'Connor, prince of Con naught, 
whom the Irish elected nominal sovereign of all the provinces, 
resisted the arms of Henry for three years, but finally ac- 
knowledged his dominion by a solemn embassy to the king at 
Windsor. The terms of the submission were, an annual tri- 
bute of every tenth hide of land, to be applied for the support 
of government, and an obligation of allegiance to the crown of 
England ; on which conditions the Irish should retain their 
possessions and Roderick his kingdom ; except the territory 
of the Pale, or that part which the English barons had sub- 
dued before the arrival of Henry. 

6. Henry divided Ireland into counties, appointed sheriffs in 
each, and introduced the laws of England into the territory 
of the Pale. The rest of the kingdom was regulated by their 
ancient laws, till the reign of Edward I, when, at the request 
of the nation, the English laws were extended to the whole 
kingdom. In the first Irish parliament, which was held in the 
same reign, sir John Wogan presided as deputy of the sove- 
reign. From that time there was little intercourse between 
the two kingdoms for some centuries; nor was the island con- 
sidered as fully subdued till the reign of Elizabeth and of her 
successor James I. 

7. The latter part of the reign of Henry II was clouded by 
domestic misfortunes. His children, Henry, Richard, Geof- 
frey, and John, instigated by their unnatural mother, rose in 
rebellion, and, with the aid of Louis VII, king of France, pre- 
pared to dethrone their father. While opposing them with, 
spirit on the continent, his kingdom was invaded by the Scots 
under William (the Lion). He hastened back to England, de- 
feated the Scots, and made their king his prisoner. Two of 
his sons, Henry and Geoffrey, expiated their offences by an 
early death ; but Richard, once reconciled, was again seduced 
from his allegiance, and, in league with the king of France, 



sect. 15. MODERN HJSTORY. 21 S 

plundered his father's continental dominions. The spirit of 
Henry was unequal to his domestic misfortunes, and he died 
of a broken heart, in the 58th year of his age, 1189, an orna- 
ment to the English throne, and a prince surpassing all his 
contemporaries in the valuable qualities of a sovereign. To 
him England owed her first permanent improvement in arts, 
in laws, in government, and in civil liberty. 

8. Richard I (Cceur de Lion) immediately on his accession 
embarked for the Holy Land, on a crusade against the infi- 
dels, after plundering his subjects of an immense sum of 
money to defray the charges of the enterprize. Forming a 
league with Philip Augustus of France, the two monarch s 
joined their forces, and, acting for some time in concert, were 
successful in the taking of Acra or Ptolemais : but Philip, 
jealous of his rival's glory, soon returned to France, while 
Richard had the honour of defeating the army of the heroic 
Saladin in the battle of Ascalon,^ with prodigious slaughter. 
He prepared now for the siege of Jerusalem; but, finding his 
army wasted with famine and fatigue, he was compelled to 
terminate the war by a truce with Saladin, in which he ob- 
tained a free passage to the Holy Land for every christian 
pilgrim. Wrecked in his voyage homeward, and travelling 
in disguise through Germany, Richard was seized, and de- 
tained in prison, by command of the emperor Henry VI. The 
king of France ungenerously opposed his release, and like- 
wise his unnatural brother John, from selfish ambition ; but 
he was at length ransomed by his subjects for the sum of 
150000 merks, and, after an absence of nine years, returned 
to his dominions. His traitorous brother was pardoned after 
some submission ; and Richard employed the short residue of 
his reign in a spirited revenge against his rival Philip. A 
truce, however, was concluded by the mediation of Rome ; 
and Richard was soon after killed, while storming the castle 
of one of his rebellious vassals in the Limosin. He died in 
the tenth year of his reign, and forty-second of his age, 1199. 

9. John (Lackland) succeeded to the throne on the deatli 
of his brother, but found a competitor in his nephew Arthur, 
the son of Geoffrey, supported by Philip of France. War 
was of course renewed with that country. Arthur, with fatal 



214 MODERN HISTORY. rui a* 

confidence, throwing himself into the hands of his uncle, was 
removed by poison or the sword: a deed which, joined to the 
known tyranny of his character, rendered John the detesta- 
tion of his subjects. He was stripped by Philip of his conti- 
nental dominions, and he made the pope his enemy by an 
avaricious attack on the treasures of the church. After an 
ineffectual menace of vengeance, Innocent III pronounced a 
sentence of interdict against the kingdom, which put a stop 
to all the ordinances of religion, to baptism, and the burial 
of the dead. He next excommunicated John, and absolved 
his subjects from their allegiance ; and he finally deposed 
him, and made a gift of the kingdom to Philip. John, inti- 
midated into submission, declared himself the pope's vassal, 
swore allegiance on his knees to the papal legate, and agreed 
to hold his kingdom tributary to the holy see. On these con- 
ditions, which ensured the universal hatred and contempt of 
his people, he made his peace with the church. It was natu- 
ral that his subjects, thus trampled upon and sold, should 
vindicate their rights. The barons of the kingdom assem- 
bled, and, binding themselves by oath to a union of measures, 
resolutely demanded from the king a ratification of a charter 
of privileges granted by Henry I. John appealed to the pope, 
who, in support of his vassal, prohibited the confederacy of 
the barons as rebellious. The barons were only the more 
resolute in their purpose, and the sword was their last re- 
source. At length John was compelled to yield to their de- 
mands, and signed at Runymede, on the 19th day of June, 
1215, that solemn charter, which is the foundation and bul- 
wark of English liberty, Magna Charta (the great charter.) 
10. By this great charter, 1, the freedom of election to 
benefices was secured to the clergy; 2, the fines to the over- 
lord on the succession of vassals were regulated ; 3, no aids 
or subsidies were allowed to be levied from the subject, with- 
out the consent of the great council, unless in a few special 
cases; 4, the crown shall not seize the lands of a baron for a 
debt, while he has personal property sufficient to discharge it; 
5, all the privileges granted by the king to his vassals shall 
be communicated by them to their inferior vassals ; 6, one 
weight and one measure shall be used throughout the king- 



sect. 15. MODERN HISTORY. 215 

dom; 7, all men shall pass from and return to the realm at 
their pleasure ; 8, all cities and boroughs shall preserve their 
ancient liberties ; 9, the estate of every freeman sball be re- 
gulated by his will, and, if he die intestate, by the law ; 10, 
the king's court shall be stationary, and open to all; 11, every 
freeman shall be fined only in proportion to his offence, and 
no fine shall be imposed to his utter ruin; 12, no peasant 
shall, by a fine, be deprived of his instruments of husbandry; 
13, no person shall be tried on suspicion alone, but on the 
evidence of lawful witnesses; 14, no person shall be tried or 
punished, unless by the judgment of his peers and the law of 
the land. 

11. John granted at the same time the Charta de Foresta 
(the charter concerning forests), which abolished the royal 
privilege of killing game over all the kingdom, and restored 
to the lawful proprietors their woods and forests, which they 
were now allowed to enclose and use a§ their pleasure. As 
compulsion alone had extorted those concessions, John was 
determined to disregard them, and a foreign force was brought 
into the kingdom to reduce the barons to submission. The 
barons applied for aid to France, and Philip sent his son 
Lewis to England with an army ; and such was the people's 
hatred of their sovereign, that they swore allegiance to this 
foreigner. At this critical period John died at Newark, in 
1216, and an instant change ensued. His son Henry III, a 
boy of nine years of age, was crowned at Bristol ; and his 
uncle, the earl of Pembroke, was appointed protector of the 
realm. The disaffected barons returned to their allegiance ; 
the people hailed their sovereign ; and Lewis with his army, 
after an ineffectual struggle, made peace with the protector, 
and evacuated the kingdom. 



310 MODERN HISTORY. part ii, 

SECTION XVI. 

STATE OE GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE THIRTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

1. Frederick II, son of Henry VI, was elected emperor 
on the resignation of Otho IV, in 1212. At this period Na- 
ples, Sicily, and Loinbardy, were all appanages of the em- 
pire ; and the contentions between the imperial and papal 
powers divided the states of Italy into factions, known by the 
name of Guelphs and Ghibellines ; the former maintaining 
the supremacy of the pope, the latter that of the emperor. 
The opposition of Frederick to four successive popes was 
avenged by excommunication and deposition ; yet he kept pos- 
session of his throne, and vindicated his authority with great 
spirit. Frequent atjjmpts were made against his life, by as- 
sassination and poison, which he openly attributed to papal 
resentment. On his death, in 1250, the splendour of the em- 
pire was for many years obscured. It was a prey to incessant 
factions and civil war, the result of contested claims of so- 
vereignty. Yet the popes gained nothing by its disorders, for 
the troubles of Italy were equally hostile to their ambition. 
We have seen the turbulent state of England. France was 
equally weak and anarchical ; and Spain was ravaged by the 
contests of the Moors and christians. Yet, distracted as ap- 
pears the situation of Europe, one great project gave a spe 
cies of union to this discordant mass, of which we now pro- 
ceed to give account. 



SECTION XVII. 

THE CRUSADES, OR HOLY WARS. 

1. The Turks or Turcomans, a race of Tartars from the 
regions of Mount Taurus and Imaus, invaded the dominions 
of Moscovy in the eleventh century, and came down upon the 
banks of the Caspian. The caliphs employed Turkish mercena- 



sect. 17. MODERN HISTORY. ' 2 t7 

ries, and acquired the reputation of able soldiers in the wars 
that took place on occasion of the contested caliphate. The 
caliphs of Bagdat, the Abassidse, were deprived of Syria, Egypt, 
and Africa, by their rival caliphs of the race of Omar ; and 
both the Abassidse and the Ommiades were deprived of their 
dominions by the Turks. Bagdat was taken by the Turks, and 
the empire of the caliphs was overthrown in 1055. The Tur- 
kish princes, from temporal monarchs, became now the su- 
preme pontiffs of the Mahometan faith, as the popes of the 
christian. At the time of the first crusade, in the end of the 
eleventh century, Arabia was governed by a Turkish sultan, as 
were Persia and the greater portion of Lesser Asia. The eas- 
tern empire was thus deprived of its Asiatic territory, and had 
lost a great part of its dominions in Europe. It retained, 
however, Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, and lilyria; and Con- 
stantinople itself was populous, opulent, and luxurious. Pales- 
tine was in the possession of the Turks ; and its eapitalJeru- 
salem, fallen from its ancient consequence and splendour, was 
yet held in respect by its conquerors as a holy city, and con- 
stantly attracted the resort of Mahometans to the mosque ol 
Omar, as of christian pilgrims to the sepulchre of our Saviour. 
2. Peter the hermit, a native of Amiens, on his return 
from this pilgrimage, complained in loud terms of the griev- 
ances which the christians suffered from the Turks : Urban 
II pitched on this enthusiast as a fit person to commence the 
execution of a grand design which the popes had long enter- 
tained, of arming all Christendom, and exterminating the in- 
fidels from the Holy Land. The project was opened in two 
general councils held at Piaeentia and Clermont. The French 
possessed more ardour than the Italians ; and an immense 
multitude of ambitious and disorderly nobles, with all their 
dependents, eager for enterprize and plunder, and assured of 
eternal salvation, immediately took the cross. Peter the her- 
mit led 80000 under his banners, and they began their march 
toward the east in 1095. Their progress was marked by 
rapine and hostility in every christian country through which 
they passed; and the army of the hermit, on its arrival at 
Constantinople, was wasted down to 20000. The emperor 
Alexius Comnenus, to whom the crusaders behaved with the 



218 MODERN HISTORY. part xj- 

most provoking insolence and folly, conducted himself with 
admirable moderation and good sense. He hastened to get 
rid of this disorderly multitude, by furnishing them with 
every aid which they required, and cheerfully lent his ships to 
transport them across the Bosphorus. The sultan Solyman, 
met them in the plain of Nieea, and destroyed the army of the 
hermit. A new host in the mean time arrived at Constantino- 
ple, led by more illustrious commanders; by Godfrey of 
Bouillon duke of Brabant, Raymond count of Thoulouse, Ro- 
bert of Normandy, son of William king of England, Bohe- 
mond, son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of Sicily, and 
other princes of high reputation. To these, who amounted 
to some hundred thousands, Alexius 'manifested the same 
prudent conduct, to accelerate their departure. The Turks, 
overpowered by numbers, were twice defeated ; and the cru- 
saders, pursuing their successes, penetrated at length to Jeru- 
salem, which, after a siege of six weeks, they took by storm, 
A. I). 1099. With savage fury they massacred the whole of 
its Mahometan and Jewish inhabitants. Godfrey was hailed 
king of Jerusalem, but was obliged soon after to cede hi& 
kingdom to the pope's legate. The crusaders divided Syria 
and Palestine, and formed four separate states, which weak- 
ened their power. The Turks began to recover strength; and 
the christians of Asia soon found it necessary to solicit aid 
from Europe. 

3. The second crusade set out from the west in 1146, to the 
amount of 200000, French, Germans, and Italians, led by 
Hugh, brother to Philip I of France. These met with the 
same fate which attended the army of Peter the hermit. The 
garrison of Jerusalem was at this time so weak, that it be- 
came necessary to embody and arm the monks for its defence, 
and hence arose the military orders of the knights templars 
and hospitallers, and soon after the Teutonic, from the Ger- 
man pilgrims. Meantime pope Eugenius III employed St. 
Bernard to preach a new crusade in France, which was head- 
ed by its sovereign Lewis VII (the Young), who, in conjunc- 
tion with Conrad III, emperor of Germany, mustered jointly 
300000 men. The Germans were extirpated by the sultan of 
Iconium ; the French were totally defeated near Laodiceaj 



sect. 17. MODERN HISTORY. 219 

and the two monarchs, after much disaster, returned with, 
shame to their dominions. 

4. The illustrious Saladin, nephew of the sultan of Egypt, 
formed the design of recovering Palestine from the christians. 
He besieged and took the city of Jerusalem, and made pri- 
soner its sovereign, Guy of Lusignan. Pope Clement III, 
alarmed at the successes of the infidels, began to stir up a new 
crusade from France, England, and Germany ; and the armies 
of each country were headed by their respective sovereigns, 
Philip Augustus, Richard I, and Frederick Barbarossa. In 
this third crusade the emperor Frederick died in Asia, and 
his army, by repeated defeats, mouldered to nothing. The 
English and French were more successful : they besieged and 
took Ptolemais ; but Richard and Philip quarrelled from 
jealousy of each other's glory, and the French monarch 
returned in disgust to his country. Richard nobly sustained 
the contest with Saladin, whom he defeated near Ascalon ; 
but his army was reduced by famine and fatigue. He con- 
cluded a treaty, at least not dishonourable, with his enemy,, 
and was forced at length to escape from Palestine with a 
single ship. (See Sect. XV, § 8.) Saladin, revered even by the 
christians, died in 1195. 

5. A fourth crusade was fitted out in 1202, under Baldwin 
count of Flanders, of which the object was not the extirpation 
of the infidels, but the destruction of the empire of the east, 
Constantinople, embroiled by civil war and revolution from, 
disputed claims to the sovereignty, was besieged and taken by 
the crusaders ; and Baldwin, their chief, being elected em- 
peror, was dethroned and murdered within a few months. 
The imperial dominions were shared among the principal 
leaders ; and the Venetians, who had lent their ships for the 
expedition, got the isle of Candia (anciently Crete) for their 
reward. Alexius, of the imperial family of the Comneni, 
founded a new sovereignty in Asia, which he termed the em- 
pire of Trebizond. The object of a fifth crusade was to lay 
waste Egypt, in revenge foran attack on Palestine by its sul- 

e e 



g^G MODERN HISTORY. PkRX o. 

tan Saphadin. Partial success and ultimate ruin were the issue 
of this expedition, as of all the preceding. 

6. At this period, 1227, a great revolution took place in 
Asia. Gengiskan with his Tartars broke down from the north 
upon Persia and Syria, and massacred indiscriminately Turks, 
Jews, and christians, who opposed them. The christian 
knights, templars, hospitallers, and Teutonic, made a des- 
perate but ineffectual resistance ; and Palestine must have 
been abandoned to those invaders, if its fate had not been for 
a while retarded by the last crusade under Lewis IX of 
France. This prince, summoned by Heaven, as he believed, 
after four years' preparation, set out for the Holy Land, with 
his queen, his three brothers, and all the knights of France. 
His army began their enterprize by an attack on Egypt ? 
where, after some considerable successes, they were at length 
utterly defeated ; and the French monarch, with two of his 
brothers, fell into the hands of the enemy. He purchased 
his liberty at an immense ransom, and, returning to France, 
reigned prosperously and wisely for thirteen years. But the 
same phrenzy again assailing him, he embarked on a crusade 
against the Moors in Africa, where he and his army were 
destroyed by a pestilence, 1270. It is computed, that, in the 
whole of the crusades to Palestine, two millions of Europeans 
were buried in the east. 

7. Effects of the Crusades. One consequence of the holy 
wars is supposed to have been the improvement of Faiiropean 
manners ; but the times immediately succeeding the crusades 
exhibit no such actual improvement. Two centuries of bar- 
barism and darkness elapsed, between the termination of those 
enterprizes and the fall of the Greek empire in 1453, the sera 
of the revival of letters, and the commencement of eiviliza-\ 
tion. A certain consequence of the crusades was the change 
of territorial property in all the feudal kingdoms, the sale of 
the estates of the nobles, and their division among a number 
of smaller proprietors. Hence the feudal aristocracy was 
weakened, and the lower classes began to acquire weight, and 
a spirit of independence. The towns, hitherto bound by a 
sort of vassalage to the nobles, began to purchase their im- 



sect. 18. MODERN HISTORY. 



221 



m unity, acquired the right of electing their own magistrates, 
and Avere governed by their own municipal laws. The church 
in some respects gained, and in others lost by those enterprizes. 
The popes gained a more extended jurisdiction ; but the fatal 
issue of those expeditions opened the eyes of the world to the 
selfish and interested motives which had prompted them, and 
weakened the sway of superstition. Many of the religious 
orders acquired an increase of wealth ; but this was balanced 
bj the taxes imposed on the clergy. The coin was altered 
and debased in most of the kingdoms of Europe, from the 
scarcity of specie. The Jews were supposed to have hoarded 
and concealed it, and hence they became the victims of gene- 
ral persecution. The most substantial gainers by the cru- 
sades were the Italian states of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, from 
the increased trade to the Levant for the supply of those im- 
mense armies. Venice, as we have seen, took an active con- 
cern, and obtained her share of the conquered territory. The 
age of the crusades brought chivalry to its perfection, and 
gave rise to romantic fiction. 

See KeWs Elements of General Knowledge, vol, J. 



SECTION XVIII. 

OF CHIVALRY ASD ROMANCE. 

1. Chivalry arose naturally from the condition of society 
in those ages in which it prevailed. Among the Germanic na= 
tions, the profession of arms was esteemed the sole employ- 
ment that deserved the name of manly or honourable. The 
initiation of the youth to this profession was attended with 
peculiar solemnity and appropriate ceremonies. The chief 
of the tribe bestowed the sword and armour on his vassal, as 
a symbol of their devotion to his service. In the progress 
of the feudal system those vassals, in imitation of their chief, 
assumed the power of conferring arms on their subvassals ? 
with a similar form of mysterious and pompous ceremonial. 
The candidate for knighthood underwent his preparatory 



222 MODERN HISTORY. part it, 

fasts and vigils, and received on his knees the accollade and 
benediction of his chief. Armed and caparisoned, he sallied 
forth in quest of adventure, which, whether just or not in its 
purpose, was ever esteemed honourable in proportion as it was 
perilous. 

2. The esteem of the female sex is characteristic of the 
Gothic manners. In those ages of barbarism the castles of 
the greater barons were the courts of sovereigns in miniature. 
The society of the ladies, who found only in such fortresses a 
security from outrage, polished the manners; and to protect 
the chastity and honour of the fair was the best employ and 
the highest merit of an accomplished knight. Romantic 
exploit therefore had always a tincture of gallantry. 

It hath been through all ages ever seen, 

That with the praise of arms and chivalry 
The prize of beauty still hath joined been, 

And that for reasons special privity : 
For either doth on other much rely ; 

P'or he, me seems, most fit the fair to serve, 
That can her best defend from villainy ; 

And she most fit his service doth deserve, 
That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve. 

Spenser's Fairy Queen. 

S. To the passion for adventure and romantic love were 
added a high regard for n orality and religion ; but as the lat- 
ter were ever subordinate to the former, we may presume 
more in favour of the refinement than of the purity of the 
knights. It was the pride of a knight to redress wrongs and 
injuries; but in that honourable employment he made small 
account of those which he committed. It was easy to expiate 
the greatest offences by a penance or a pilgrimage, which fur- 
nished only anew opportunity for adventurous exploit. 

•&. Chivalry, whether it began with the Moors or Normans, 
attained its perfection at the period of the crusades, which 
presented a noble object of adventure, and a boundless field 
for military glory. Few indeed returned from those desperate 
enterprizes ; but those had a high reward in the admiration 
of their countrymen. The bards and romancers sung their 



sect. 18. MODERN HISTORY- 238 

praises, and recorded their exploits, with a thousand circum- 
stances of fabulous embellishment. 

5. The earliest of the old romances (so termed from the 
Romance language, a mixture of the Frank and Latin, in 
which they were written) appeared about the middle of the 
twelfth century^ the period of the second crusade. But those 
more ancient compositions did not record cotemporary events,, 
whose known truth would have precluded all liberty of fiction 
or exaggeration. Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the author who 
assumed the name of archbishop Turpin, had free scope to 
their fancy, by celebrating the deeds of Arthur and the knights 
of the round table, and the exploits of Charlemagne and his 
twelve peers. From the fruitful stock of those first romances 
sprung a numerous offspring, equally wild and extravagant, 

6. Philosophers have analyzed the pleasure arising from 
works of fiction, and have endeavoured, by various hypotheses, 
to account for the interest which we take in the description 
of an event or scene which is known to be utterly impossible. 
The fact may be simply explained as follows. Every narra-> 
tion is in some degree attended with a dramatic deception. 
We enter for the time into the situation of the persons con- 
cerned; and, adopting their passions and feelings, we lose all 
sense of the absurdity of their cause, while we see the agents 
themselves hold it for reasonable and adequate. The most 
incredulous sceptic may sympathize strongly with the feel- 
ings of Hamlet at the sight of his father's spectre. 

7. Thus powerfully affected as we are by sympathy, even 
against the conviction of our reason, how much greater must 
have been the effect of such works of the imagination in those 
days, when popular superstition gave full credit to the reali- 
ty, or at least the possibility, of all that they described ! And 
hence we must censure, as both unnecessary and improbable, 
the theory of Dr. Hurd, which accounts for all the wildness 
of the old romances, on the supposition that their fictions 
were entirely allegorical ; which explains the giants and sava- 
ges into the oppressive feudal lords and their barbarous de- 
pendents; as M. Mallet construes the serpents and dragons, 
which guarded the enchanted castles, into their winding 



224 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

walls, fosses, and battlements. It were sufficient to say, that 
many of those old romances are inexplicable hy allegory. 
They were received by the popular belief as truths ; and even 
their contrivers believed in the possibility of the scenes and 
actions which they described. In latter ages, and in the wane 
of superstition, yet while it still retained a powerful influence, 
the poets adopted allegory as a vehicle of moral instruction : 
and to this period belong those poetical romances which bear 
an allegorical explanation ; as the Fairy Queen of Spenser, the 
Orlando of Ariosto, and the Gierusalemme Liberata of Tasso. 
8. In more modern times the taste for romantic composi- 
tion declined with popular credulity ; and the fastidiousness 
of philosophy affected to treat all supernatural fiction with 
contempt. But it was at length perceived that this refine- 
ment had cut off a source of very high mental enjoyment. 
The public taste now took a new turn ; and this moral revo- 
lution is at present tending to its extreme. "We are gone back 
to the nursery to listen to tales of hobgoblins ; a change 
which we may safely prognosticate can be of no duration. 



SECTION XIX. 

STATE OT EUKOPE IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH 

CENTURIES. 

1. Constantinople, taken in 1202 by the crusaders, was 
possessed only for a short time by its conquerors. It was 
governed by French emperors for the space of sixty years, 
and was retaken by the Greeks in 1261, under Michael Palseo- 
logus, who, by imprisoning and putting out the eyes of his 
pupil Theodore Lascaris., secured to himself the sovereignty. 

2. In the beginning of the thirteenth century Germany was 
governed by Frederick II, who paid homage to the pope for 
the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which was possessed by his 
son Conrad, and afterward by his brother Manfred, who 
usurped the crown in violation of the right of his nephew 



sect. 19. MODERN HISTORY. %%$ 

Conradin. Pope Clement IV, jealous of the dominion of the 
imperial family, gave the investiture of Naples and Sicily to 
Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX of France, who de- 
feated and put to death his competitors. The Sicilians re- 
venged this act of usurpation and cruelty by the murder, in 
one night, of every Frenchman in the island. This shocking 
massacre, termed the Sicilian vespers, happened on Easter 
Sunday, 1282. It was followed by every evil that comes in 
the train of civil war and revolution. 

3. The beginning of the thirteenth century had been sig- 
nalized by a new species of crusade. The Albigenses, inhabi- 
tants of Alby in the Pays de Vaud, were bold enough to dis- 
pute many of the tenets of the catholic church, judging them 
contrary to the doctrines of scripture. Innocent III establish- 
ed a holy commission at Thoulouse, with power to try and 
punish those heretics. T3ie count of Thoulouse opposed this 
persecution, and was, for the punishment of his offence, com- 
pelled by the pope to assist in a crusade against his own vas- 
sals. Simon de Monfort was the leader of this pious enterprise, 
which was marked by the most atrocious cruelties. The be- 
nefits of the holy commission were judged by the popes to be 
so great, that it became henceforth a permanent establish- 
ment, known by the name of the inquisition. 

4. The rise of the house of Austria maybe dated from 1274, 
when Rodolphus of Hapsbourg, a Swiss baron, was elected 
emperor of Germany. Hje owed his elevation to the jealousies 
of the electoral princes, who could not agree in the choice of 
any one of themselves. The king of Bohemia, to whom Rodol- 
phus had been steward of the household, could ill brook the 
supremacy of his former dependent; and refusing him the cus- 
tomary homage for his Germanic possessions, Rodolphus strip- 
ped him of Austria, which has ever since remained in the fa- 
mily of its conqueror. 

5. The Italian states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, were at 
this time flourishing and opulent, while most of the kingdoms 
of Europe (if we except England under Edward I) were ex- 
hausted, feeble, and disorderly. A dawning of civil liberty he- 



226 MODERN HISTORY. part n, 

gan to appear in France under Philip IV (le Bel), who sum- 
moned the third estate to the national assemblies, which had 
hitherto consisted of the nobility and clergy, 1303. Philip es- 
tablished perpetual courts of judicature in France, under the 
name of parliaments. Over these the parliament of Paris pos- 
sessed a jurisdiction by appeal ; but did not till later times as- 
sume any authority in matters of state. 

6. Before this era the parliament of England had begun to 
assume its present constitution. The commons, or the repre- 
sentatives of counties and boroughs, were first called to par- 
liament by Henry HI. Before that time this assembly con- 
sisted only of the greater barons and clergy. But of the rise 
and progress of the constitution of England we shall after- 
ward treat more particularly in a separate section. 

7. The spirit of the popedom, zealous in the maintenance 
and extension of its prerogatives, continued much the same in 
the thirteenth and fourteenth, as we have seen it in the three 
preceding centuries. Philip the Fair had subjected his clergy 
to bear their share of the public taxes, and prohibited all con- 
tributions to be levied by the pope in his dominions. This dou- 
ble offence was highly resented by Boniface VIII, who ex- 
pressed his indignation by a sentence of excommunication and 
interdict, and a solemn transference of the kingdom of France 
to the emperor Albert. Philip, in revenge, sent his general 
Nogaret to Rome, who threw the pope into prison. The French, 
however, were overpowered by the papal troops ; and the 
death of Boniface put an end to the quarrel. 

8. It is less easy to justify the conduct of Philip the Fair 
to the knights templars than his behaviour to pope Boniface. 
The whole of this order had incurred his resentment, from 
suspicion of harbouring treasonable designs. He had influence 
with Clement V to procure a papal bull, warranting their ex- 
tirpation from all the christian kingdoms : and this infamous 
proscription was carried into effect over all Europe. Those 
unfortunate men were solemnly tried, not for their real of- 
fence, but for pretended impieties and idolatrous practices ; 
and were committed to the flames 1309 — 1312. 



SECT. 20. MODERN HISTORY. 227 

SECTION XX. 

REVOLUTION OF SWITZERLAND. 

1. The beginning of the fourteenth century was distinguish- 
@d by the revolution of Switzerland, and the rise of the Hel- 
vetic republic. The emperor Rodolphus of Hapsbourg was he- 
reditary sovereign of several of the Swiss cantons, and go- 
verned his states with much equity and moderation. His suc- 
cessor Albert, a tyrannical prince, formed the design of an- 
nexing the whole of the provinces to his dominion, and of 
erecting them into a principality for one of his sons. The can- 
tons of Schweitz, Dry, and Dnderwald, which had always re- 
sisted the authority of Austria, combined to assert their free- 
dom; and a small army of 400 or 500 men defeated an immense 
host of the Austrians in the pass of Morgate, 1315. The rest 
of the cantons by degrees joined the association. With invin- 
cible perseverance the united cantons won and secured their 
dear-bought liberty, after sixty pitched battles with their ene- 
mies. 

2. Constitution of Switzerland. The thirteen cantons were 
united by a solemn treaty, which stipulated the proportional 
succours to be furnished by each in the case of foreign hostility, 
and the measures to be followed for securing the union of the 
states, and accommodating domestic differences. With respect 
to its internal government and economy, each canton was in- 
dependent. Of some the constitution was monarchical, and of 
others republican. All matters touching the general league 
were transacted either by letters sent to Zurich, and thence 
officially circulated to all the cantons, or by conferences. The 
general diet, where two deputies attended from each canton, 
was held once a year, the first deputy of Zurich presiding. 
The catholic and protestant cantons likewise held their sepa- 
rate diets on occasional emergencies. 

3. The Swiss, when at peace, employed their troops for hire 
in foreign service, judging it a wise policy to keep alive the 
military spirit of the nation; and the armies thus employed 
have been equally distinguished for their courage and fidelity, 

Tf 



328 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

The industry and economy of the Swiss are proverbial; and 
their country supports an abundant population, from the zeal- 
ous promotion of agriculture and manufactures. 



SECTION XXI. 

STATE 0^ EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND 
PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The rival claims of superiority between the popes and 
emperors still continued. Henry VII, the successor of Al- 
bert, vindicated his right by the sword, triumphantly fought 
his way to Rome, where he was solemnly crowned, and im- 
posed a tribute on all the states of Italy. His sudden death 
was suspected to be the consequence of papal resentment. In 
his time the seat of the popedom was transferred by Clement 
V from Rome to Avignon, 1309, where it remained till 1377. 
The factions of Italy were the cause of this removal. Lewis 
of Bavaria, the successor of Henry, deposed and excommuni- 
cated by John XXII, revenged himself by deposing the pope. 
This pontiff, who had originally been a cobler, surpassed most 
of his predecessors in pride and tyranny. He kept his seat on 
the papal chair, and left at his death an immense treasure ac- 
cumulated by the sale of benefices; while his rival the empe- 
peror died in indigence. 

2. His successor in the empire, Charles IV, published, in 
1355, the imperial constitution, termed the golden bull, the fun- 
damental law of the Germanic body, which reduced the num- 
ber of electors to seven, and settled on them all the hereditary 
offices of state. The electors exemplified their new rights by 
deposing his son Wenceslaus for incapacity, 1400. Three se- 
parate factions of the French and Italian cardinals having 
elected three separate popes, the emperor Sigismund judged 
this division of the church to be a fit opportunity for his inter- 
ference to reconcile all differences, and establish his own su- 
premacy. He summoned a general council at Constance in 1M4, 
and ended the dispute by degrading all the three pontiffs, 



SECT. 21. MODERN HISTORY. gg§ 

and naming a fourth, Martin Colonna. This division of the 
papacy is termed the great schism of the west. 

3. The spiritual business of the council of Constance was no 
less important than its temporal. John Huss, a disciple of 
WickliiF, was tried for heresy, in denying the hierarchy, and 
satirizing the immoralities of the popes and bishops. He did 
not deuy the charge, and, refusing to confess his errors, was 
burnt alive. A similar fate was the portion of his friend and 
disciple, Jerom of Prague, who displayed at his execution the 
eloquence of an apostle, and the constancy of a martyr, 1416. 
Sigismund fell the consequence of those horrible proceedings; 
for the Bohemians opposed his succession to their vacant 
crown, and it cost him a war of sixteen years to attain it. 

4. Whatever was the imperial power at this time, it de- 
rived but small consequence from its actual revenues. The 
wealth of the Germanic states was exclusively possessed by 
their separate sovereigns, and the emperor had little more 
than what he drew from Bohemia and Hungary. The sove- 
reignty of Italy was an empty title. The interest of the em- 
peror in that country furnished only a source of faction to its 
princes, and embroiled the states in perpetual quarrels. A 
series of conspiracies and civil tumults form the annals of the 
principal cities for above 200 years. Naples and Sicily were 
ruined by the weak and disorderly government of the two Jo- 
annas. A passion which the younger of these females con- 
ceived for a soldier of the name of Sforza raised him to the 
sovereignty of Milan; and her adoption, first of Alphonzo of 
Arragon, and then of Lewis of Anjou, laid the foundation of 
those contests between Spain and France for the sovereignty 
of the two Sicilies, which afterward agitated all Europe. 



SECTION XXII. 



HISTORY OE ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. On the death of John his son Henry III succeeded to the 
crown of England at nine years of age. He was a prince of 



233 MODERN HISTORY, FART II. 

amiable dispositions, but of weak understanding. His prefer- 
ence of foreign favourites disgusted his nobles; and oppressive 
exactions, and the want of economy in his government, de- 
prived him of the affection of his people. Montfort earl of 
Leicester, son of the leader of the crusade against the Albi- 
genses, and brother-in-law of the king, conceived apian for 
usurping the government. He formed a league with the ba- 
rons, on the pretext of reforming abuses, and compelled Henry 
to delegate all the regal power into the hands of twenty-four 
of their number. These divided among themselves the offices 
of government, and new-modeled the parliament, by summon- 
ing a certain number of knights chosen from each county. 
This measure was fatal to their own power; for those knights 
or representatives of the people, indignant at Leicester's 
usurpation, determined to restore the royal authority; and cal- 
led on prince Edward, a youth of intrepid spirit, to avenge 
his father's wrongs and save the kingdom. 

2. Leicester raised a formidable force, and defeated the 
royal army at Lewes, in Sussex, 1264, and made both the king 
and prince Edward his prisoners. He now compelled the im- 
potent Henry to ratify his authority by a solemn treaty. He 
assumed the character of regent, and called a parliament, 
summoning two knights from each of the counties, and depu- 
ties from the principal boroughs, the first regular plan of the 
English house of commons. This assembly exercising its just 
rights, and asserting with firmness the re-establishment of the 
ancient government of the kingdom, Leicester judged it pru- 
dent to release the prince from his confinement. Edward was 
no sooner at liberty than he took the field against the usurper, 
who was defeated and slain in the battle of Evesham, on the 
4th day of August, 1265. Henry was now restored to his 
throne by the arms of his gallant son, who, after establishing 
domestic tranquillity, embarked in the last crusade with Lewis 
IX. and signalized his prowess by many valorous exploits in 
Palestine. He had the honour of concluding an advantageous 
truce for ten years with the sultan of Babylon, and was on his 
return to England when he received intelligence of his acces- 
sion to the crown by the death of his father, 1272. 



SECT. 22. MODERN HISTORY. 231 

3. Edward I projected the conquest of Wales in the begin- 
ning of his reign. The Welsh, the descendents of the ancient 
Britons who had escaped the Roman and Saxon conquests, 
preserved their liberty, laws, manners, and language. Their 
prince, Lewellyn, refused his customary homage to the king 
of England. Edward invaded Wales, and, surrounding the 
army of the prince, who retreated to the mountains, cut off all 
his supplies, and compelled him to an unqualified submission. 
The terms demanded were, the surrender of a part of the 
country, a large sum of money, and an obligation of perpetual 
fealty to the crown of England. The Welsh infringed this 
treaty, and Edward marched his army into the heart of the 
country, where the troops of Lewellyn made a most desperate 
but ineffectual resistance. In a decisive engagement, in 1283, 
the prince was slain. His brother David, betrayed into the 
hands of the conquerer, was inhumanly executed on a gibbet; 
and Wales, completely subdued, was annexed to the crown of 
England. With a policy equally absurd and cruel Edward 
ordered the Welsh bards to be put to death wherever found; 
thereby ensuring the perpetuation of their heroic songs, and 
increasing the abhorrence of the vanquished people for their 
barbarous conqueror. 

<&. The conquest of Wales inflamed the ambition of Edward, 
and inspired him with the design of extending his dominion to 
the extremity of the island. The designs of this enterprising 
monarch on the kingdom of Scotland invite our attention to 
that quarter; but previously require a short retrospect to its 
earlier history. 



SECTION XXIII. 

HISTORY Or SCOTLAND FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 

1. The history of Scotland before the reign of Malcolm III, 
surnamed Canmore, is obscure and fabulous. This prince suc- 
ceeded to the throne in 1057 by the defeat of Macbeth, the mur- 
derer of his father Duncan. Espousing the cause of Edgar 



232 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

Atheling, heir of the Saxon kings of England, whose sister he 
married, he thus provoked a war with William the conqueror, 
which was equally prejudicial to both kingdoms. In an ex- 
pedition of Malcolm into England It is alleged, that after con- 
cluding a truce, he was compelled by William to do homage 
for Ins kingdom. The truth is, that this homage was done 
for the territories in Cumberland and Northumberland won by 
the Scots, and held in vassalage of the English crown; though 
this homage was afterward absurdly made the pretext of a 
claim of feudal sovereignty over all Scotland. In a reign of 
twenty-seven years Malcolm supported a spirited contest with 
England, both under William I and his son Rufus; and to the 
virtues of his queen Margaret his kingdom, in its domestic 
policy, owed a degree of civilisation remarkable in those ages 
of barbarism. 

2. Alexander I, his son and successor, defended, with equal 
spirit and good policy, the independence of his kingdom; and 
his son David I, celebrated even by the democratic Buchanan 
as an honour to his country and to monarchy, won from Ste- 
phen, and annexed to his crown, the whole earldom of Nor- 
thumberland. In those reigns we hear of no claim of the feu- 
dal subjection of Scotland to the crown of England; though 
the accidental fortune of war afterward furnished a ground 
for it. William I (the Lion.) taken prisoner at Alnwick by 
Henry II, was compelled, as the price of his release, to do ho- 
mage for his whole kingdom; an obligation which his succes- 
sor Richard voluntarily discharged, deeming it to have been 
unjustly extorted. 

3. On the death of Alexander III without male issue, in 
1285, Bruce and Baliol, descendants of David I by the female 
line, were competitors for the crown, and the pretensions of 
each were supported by a formidable party in the kingdom. 
Edward 1 of England, chosen umpire of the contest, arroga- 
ted to himself, in that character, the feudal sovereignty of the 
kingdom, compelling all the barons to swear allegiance to him, 
and taking actual possession of the country by his troops. He 
then adjudged the crown to Baliol, on the express condition 
of his swearing fealty to him as lord paramount. Baliol, how- 
ever, soon after renouncing his allegiance, the indignant JEd= 



SECT* 28. MODERN HISTORY, S3 * 

ward invaded Scotland with an immense force, and compelled 
the weak prince to abdicate the throne, and resign the king- 
dom into his hands. 

4, William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes whom his- 
tory records, restored the fallen honours of his country. Join- 
ed by a few patriots, his first successes in attacking the En- 
glish garrisons brought numbers to his patriotic standard. 
Their successes were signal and conspicuous. Victory fol- 
lowed upon victory. While Edward was engaged on the con- 
tinent, his troops were utterly defeated in a desperate engage- 
ment at Stirling, and forced to evacuate the kingdom. Wal- 
lace, the deliverer of his country, now assumed the title of 
governor of Scotland under Baliol, who was Edward's priso- 
nev, a distinction which was followed by the envy and disaffec- 
tion of many of the nobles, and the consequent diminution of 
his army. The Scots were defeated at Falkirk. Edward re- 
turned with a vast accession of force. After a fruitless re- 
sistance the Scottish barons finally obtained peace by a ca- 
pitulation, from which the brave Wallace was excepted by 
name. A fugitive for some time, he was betrayed into the 
hands of Edward, who put him to death, with every circum- 
stance of crnelty that babarous revenge could dictate, 1304. 

5. Scotland found a second champion and deliverer in Ho- 
hert Bruce, the grandson of the competitor with Baliol; who, 
deeply resenting the humiliation of his country, once more set 
up the standard of war, and gave defiance to the English mo- 
narch, to whom his father and grandfather had meanly sworn 
allegiance. Under this intrepid leader the spirit of the nation 
was roused at once. The English were attacked in every 
quarter, and once more entirely driven out of the kingdom. 
Robert Bruce*was crowned king at Scone, 1306. Edward was 
advancing with an immense army, and died at Carlisle on th© 
7th day of July, 1307. He enjoined it with his last breath to 
his son, Edward II, to prosecute the war with the Scots totfa© 
entire reduction of the country. 



33 & MODERN HISTORY. PAST II, 

SECTION XXIV. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. In the reign of Edward I we observe the constitution of 
England gradually advancing. The commons had been ad- 
mitted to parliament in the latter period of his father Henry 
III. A statute was passed by Edward, which declared, that 
no tax or impost should be levied without the consent of lords 
and commons. Edward ratified the Magna Charta no less 
than eleven times in the course of his reign; and henceforward 
this fundamental law began to be regarded as sacred and un- 
alterable. 

2. Edward II was in character the very opposite of his fa- 
ther, weak, indolent, and capricious; but of humane and be- 
nevolent affections. He disgusted his nobles by his attach- 
ment to mean and undeserving favourites, whom he raised to 
the highest dignities of the state, and honoured with his ex- 
clusive confidence. Piers Gaveston, a vitious and trifling mi- 
nion, whom the king appointed regent when on a journey to 
Paris to marry Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, disgusted 
the barons to such a pitch, that they compelled the king to 
delegate all the authority of government to certain commission- 
ers, and to abandon his favourite to their resentment. He 
was doomed to perpetual imprisonment, and, on attempt to es- 
cape, was seized and beheaded. 

3. Edward, in obedience to his father's will, invaded Scot * 
land with an army of 100000 men. King Robert Bruce met 
this immense force with 30000 men at Bannockburn, and de- 
feated them with prodigious slaughter. This important vic- 
tory secured the independency of Scotland. Euward escaped 
by sea to his own dominions. A new favourite, Spencer, sup- 
plied the place of Gaveston; but his undeserved elevation and 
overbearing character completed the disaffection of the nobles 
to their sovereign. The queen, a vitious adulteress, joined 
the malcontents, and, passing over to France, obtained from 
her brother Charles IV an army to invade England, and de- 
throne her husband. Her enterprise was successful Spen- 
cer and his father were betrayed into the hands of their ene- 



SECT. 24. MODERN HISTORY. 235 

mies, and perished on a scaffold. The king was taken pri- 
soner, tried bj parliament, and solemnly deposed; and being 
confined to prison, was soon after put to death in a manner 
shocking to humanity, 1327. 

4. Edward III, crowned at fourteen years of age, could not 
submit to the regency of a mother stained with the foulest of 
crimes. His father's death was revenged by the perpetual 
imprisonment of Isabella, and the public execution of her par- 
amour Mortimer. Bent on the conquest of Scotland, Edward 
marched to the north with a prodigious army, vanquished the 
Scots in the battle of Halidoun-hill, and placed on the throne 
Edward Baliol. his vassal and tributary. But the kingdom 
was as repugnant as ever to the rule of England, and a favour- 
able apportunity was taken for the renewal of hostilities, on 
the departure of Edward for a foreign enterprise, which gave 
full scope to his ambition. 

5. On the death of Charles IV without male issue, the 
crown of France was claimed by Edward III of England, in 
right of his mother, the sister of Charles, while in the mean 
time, the throne was occupied by the male heir, Philip oi' Va- 
lois. Edward fitted out an immense armament hy sea and land, 
and obtaining a signal victory over the French fleet, landed on 
the coast of Normandy, and with his son, the black prince, ran 
a career of the most glorious exploits. Philip, with 1G0000 
men, met the English with 30000, and was entirely defeated 
in the field of Cressy, August 26, 1348. Calais was taken by 
the English, and remained in their possession 210 years. The 
English are said to have first used artillery in the battle of 
Cressy. Fire-arms were then but a recent invention (1340), 
and have much contributed to lesson both the slaughter and 
the frequency of wars. Mr. Hume well observes, that war is 
now reduced nearly to a matter of calculation. A nation 
knows its power, and, when overmatched, either yields to its 
enemies, or secures itself by illiance. But late events have 
given some contradiction to these opinions. 

6. The Scots in the mean time invaded England, and were 
defeated in the battle of Durham by Philippa, the heroic 
queen of Edward III; and their soverign David II was led 
prisoner to London. A truce concluded between Edward and 

eg 



236 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

Philip was dissolved by the death of the latter. Philip was 
succeeded by his son John, who took the field With 60000 men 
against the Black Prince, and was defeated by him with a far 
inferior number in the signal battle of Ifaietiers, September, 
19, 1356. John king of France was led ill triumph to London, 
the fellow-prisoner of David king of Scotland. But England 
derived from those victories nothing but honour. The French 
continued the war with great vigdur during the captivity of 
their sovereign, who died in Londoli in 1364*. They obtained 
a peace by the cession to the English of Poitou, St. Onge, 
Perigord, and other provinces; and Edward consented to re- 
nounce his claim to the crown of France. The death of the 
Black Prince, a most heroic and virtuous man, plunged the na- 
tion in grief, and broke the spirits of his father, who did not 
long survive him. 

7. Richard II succeeded his grandfather, in 1377, at the 
age of eleven. Charles YI soon after became king of France 
at the age of twelve. Both kingdoms suffered from the dis- 
tractions attending a regal minority. In England the contests 
for power between the king's uncles, Lancaster, York, and 
Gloucester, embroiled all public measures; and consequent dis- 
orders required a stronger hand to compose them than that of 
the weak and facile Richard. Taking advantage of the king's 
absence, then engaged in quelling an insurrection in Ireland, 
Henry of Lancaster rose in open rebellion, and compelled 
Richard, at his return, to resign the crown. The parliament 
confirmed his deposition, and he was soon after privately as- 
sassinated. Thus began the contentions between the houses 
of York and Lancaster. 

SECTION XXV. 

ENGLAND AND TRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
STATE OF MANNERS. 

1. Henry IY ascended the throne on the depositon of Ri- 
chard II, 1399; and had immediately to combat a rebellion 
raised by the earl of Northumberland^ for placing Mortimer* 



SECT. 2& MODERN HISTORY. 33.? 

the heir of the house of York, on the throne. The Scots and 
Welsh took part with the rebels, but their united forces were 
defeated at Shrewsbury, and their leader, young Percy (Hot- 
spur) killed on the field. A second rebellion, headed by the 
archbishop of York, was quelled by the capital punishment of 
its author. The secular arm was rigorously extended 
against the followers of Wiekliff, and this reign saw the first 
detestable examples of religious persecution. The life of 
Henry was imbittered by the youthful disorders of his son the 
prince of Wales, who afterward nobly redeemed his charac- 
ter. Henry IV died in 1413, at the age of forty-six. 

2. Henry V took advantage of the disorders of France, 
from the temporary insanity of its sovereign Charles VI, and 
the factious struggles for power between the dukes of Bur- 
gundy and Orleans, to invade the kingdom with a large army, 
which a contagious distemper wasted down to a fifth of its 
numbers; yet with this handful of resolute and hardy troops 
he defeated the French army of 60000, under the constable 
D* Albert, in the famous battle of Agincourt, in which 10000 
of the enemy were slain, and 14000 made prisoners, October 
24, 1415. Returning to England to recruit his forces, he 
landed again with an army of 25000, and fought his way to 
Paris. The insane monarch, with his court, fled to Troye, 
and Henry pursuing, terminated the war by a treaty with the 
queen-mother of the duke of Burgundy, by which it was agreed 
that he should marry the daughter of Charles VI, and receive 
the kingdom of France as her dowry, which, till the death of 
her father, he should govern as regent. 

3. Mean time the return of Henry to England gave the 
dauphin hopes of the recovery of his kingdom. He was vic- 
torious in an engagement with the English under the duke of 
Clarence; but his success was of no longer duration than the 
absence of the English sovereign, who was himself hastening 
to the period of his triumphs. Seized with a mortal distemper, v 
Henry died in the 34th year of his age, 1422, one of the most 
heroic princes that ever swayed the sceptre of England. His 
brother, the duke of Bedford, was declared regent of France, 
and Henry VI, an infant nine months old, was proclaimed 
king at Paris and at London, 1422, 



258 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

4. Charles VII recovered France by slow degress. With 
tlie aid of a young female enthusiast, the maid of Orleans, 
whom the credulity of the age supposed to be inspired by 
Heaven, he gained several important advantages over the En- 
glish, which the latter inhumanly revenged, by burning this 
heroine as a sorceress. Her death was of equal advantage to 
the French as her life had been. The government of the En- 
glish was universally detested. After a struggle of many 
years they were at length, in 1450, deprived of all that they 
had ever possessed in France, except Calais and Guignes. 
Charles, when he had restored his kingdom to peace, governed 
it with admirable wisdom and moderation. 

5. The state of England and of France, the two most po- 
lished kingdoms in Europe, furnishes a good criterion of the 
condition of society in those ages of which we have been 
treating. Even in the large cities the houses were roofed 
with thatch, and had no chimnies. Glass windows were ex- 
tremely rare, and the floors were covered with straw. In Eng- 
land wine was sold only in the shops of the apothecaries. Pa- 
per made from linen rags was first manufactured in the be- 
ginning of the fifteenth century; and the use of linen for shirts 
was at that time a very rare piece of luxury. Yet even be- 
fore that age the progress of luxury had excited a serious 
alarm, for the parliament under Edward III found it necessa- 
ry to prohibit the use of gold and silver in apparel to all who 
had not a hundred pounds a-year; and Charles VI of France 
ordained, that none should presume to entertain with more 
than two dishes and a mess of soup. Before the reign of Ed- 
ward I the whole country of England was plundered by rob- 
bers in great bands, who laid waste entire villages; and some 
of the household-officers of Henry III excused themselves for 
robbing on the highway, because the king allowed them no 
wages. In 1308 the abbot and monks of Westminster were 
indicted for robbing the king's exchequer, but acquitted. The 
admirable laws of Edward I, which acquired him the title of 
the English Justinian, give strong testimony of the miserable 
policy and barbarism of the preceding times. 



4 



SECT. 26. MODERN HISTORY. 339 

SECTION XXVI. 

DECLINE AND FALL OE THE GREEK EMPIRE. 

1. In the fourteenth century the Turks were proceeding by 
degrees to encroach on the frontiers of the Greek empire. 
The sultan Ottoman had fixed the seat of his government at 
Byrsain Bythynia; and his son Orcan extended his sovereignty 
to the Propontis, and obtained in marriage the daughter of 
the emperor John Cantacuzenos. About the middle of the 
century the Turks crossed over into Europe, and took Adri- 
anople. The emperor John Palseologus, after meanly solicit- 
ing aid from the pope, concluded a humiliating treaty with 
sultan Amurat, and gave his son as a hostage to serve in the 
Turkish army. 

2. Bajazet, the successor of Amurat, compelled the emperor 
to destroy his fort of Galata, and to admit a Turkish judge 
into the city. He prepared now to besiege Constantinople in 
form, when he was forced to change his purpose, and defend 
himself against the victorious Tamerlane. 

3. Timur-bek or Tamerlane, aprinee of the Usbek Tartars, 
and descended from Gengiskan, after the conquest of Persia, 
a great part of India and Syria, was invited by the Asiatic 
princes, enemies of Bajazet, to protect them against the Ot- 
toman power, which threatened to overwhelm them. Tamer- 
lane, flattered by this request, imperiously summoned the 
Turk to renounce his conquests; but the message was answer- 
ed with a proud defiance. The armies met near Angoria (An- 
eyra) in Phrygia, and Bajazet was totally defeated and made 
prisoner by Tamerlane 1402. The conqueror made Samar- 
eand the capital of his empire, and these received the homage 
of all the princes of the east. Tamerlane was illiterate, but 
yet was solicitous for the cultivation of literature and science 
in his dominions. Samarcand became for a while the seat of 
learning, politeness, and the arts; but was destined to relapse, 
after a short period, into its ancient barbarism. 

4. The Turks, after the death of Tamerlane, resumed their 
purpose of destroying the empire of the east. Amurat II, a 



240 MODERN HISTORY. ^ART H . 

prince of a singular character, had, on the faith of a solemn 
treaty with the king of Poland, devoted his days to retirement 
and study. A violation of the treaty, by an attack from the 
Poles on his dominions, made him qui* his solitude. He en- 
gaged and destroyed the Polish army, with their perfidious 
sovereign, and then calmly returned to his retreat, till a simi- 
lar crisis of public expediency once more brought him into 
active life. He left his dominions to his son Mahomet II, sur- 
named the great, who resumed the project for the destruction 
of Constantinople; but its fall was a second time retarded by 
the necessity in which the Turks were unexpectedly placed, 
of defending their own dominions against a powerful invader. 

5. Scanderbeg (John Castriot) prince of Albania, whose 
territories had been seized by Amurat II, was educated by 
the sultan as his own child, and, when of age, intrusted with 
the command of an army, which he employed in wresting 
from Amurat his paternal kingdom, 1443. By great talents and 
military skill he maintained his independent sovereignty 
against the whole force of the Turkish empire. 

6. Mahomet II, son of the philosophic Amurat, a youth of 
twenty-one years of age, resumed the plan of extinguishing 
the empire of the Greeks, and making Constantinople the ca- 
pital of the Ottoman power. Its indolent inhabitants made 
but a feeble preparation for defence, and the powers of Eu- 
rope looked on with supine indifference. The Turks assailed 
the city both by land and sea; and, battering down its wails 
with their cannon, entered sword in hand, and massacred all 
who opposed them. The emperor Constantine was slain; the 
city surrendered; and thus was finally extinguished the east- 
ern empire of the Romans, A. D. 1453, which, from the 
building of its capital by Constantine the Great, had subsisted 
1123 years. The imperial edifices were preserved from de- 
struction. The churches were converted into mosques; but 
the exercise of their religion was allowed to all the Christi- 
ans. From that time the Greek Christians have regularly 
chosen their own patriarch, whom the sultan instals; though 
his authority continues to be disputed by the Latin patriarch, 
who is chosen by the pope* Mahomet the Great liberally pa- 



SECT. 27. MODERN HISTORY. 241 

tronised the arts and sciences; and, to compensate for the mi- 
gration of those learned Greeks who, on the fall of the em- 
pire, spread themselves over the countries of Europe, invited 
both artists and men of letters to his capital from other king- 
doms. 

7. The taking of Constantinople was followed by the con- 
quest of Greece and Epirus. Italy might probably have met 
a similar fate, but by means of their fleet the Venetians op- 
posed the arms of Mahomet with considerable success, and 
even attacked him in Greece. The contending powers soon 
after put an end to hostilities by a treaty. Mahomet the 
Great died at the age of fifty-one, 1481. 



SECTION XXVII. 

GOVERNMENT AND POLICY OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 

1. The government of Turkey is an absolute monarchy, 
the whole legislative and executive authority of the state 
centering in the sultan, whose power is subject to no consti- 
tutional control. It is, however, limited in some degree by 
religious opinion; the precepts of the Coran inculcating cer- 
tain duties on the sovereign which it would be held an impiety 
to transgress. It is yet more strongly limited by the fear of 
dethronement and assassination. Under these restraints the 
prince can never venture on an extreme abuse of power. 

2. The spirit of the people is fitted for a subjection border- 
ing on slavery. Concubinage being agreeable to the law of 
Mahomet, the Grand Segnior, the viziers, are born of female 
slaves; and there is scarcely a subject of the empire of inge- 
nuous blood by both parents. It is a fundamental maxim of 
the Turkish policy, that all the officers of state should be 
such as the sultan can entirely command, and at any time de- 
stroy, without danger to himself. 

3. The Grand Vizier is usually entrusted with the whole 
functions of government, and of course subjected to the sole 
responsibility for all public measures. Subordinate t© him 



242 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

are six viziers of the bench, who are his counsel and assessors 
in cases of law, of which he is supreme judge. The power 
of the grand vizier is absolute over all the subjects of the 
empire; but he cannot put to death a beglerbeg or a bashaw 
without the imperial signature; nor punish a janizary, unless 
through the medium of his military commander. The beg- 
lerbegs are the governors of several provinces, the bashaws 
of a single province. All dignities in the Turkish empire are 
personal, and dependent on the sovereign's pleasure. 

4. The revenues of the grand seignior arise from taxes and 
customs laid on the subject, annual tributes paid by the Tar- 
tars, stated gifts from the governors of the provinces, and, 
above all, the confiscations of estates, from the viziers and 
bashaws downward to the lowest subjects of the empire. 
The certain and fixed revenues of the sovereign are small in 
comparison of those which are arbitrary. His absolute power 
enables him to execute great projects at a small expense. 



SECTION XXVIII. 

PRANCE AND ITALY IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

i. Scarcely any vestige of the ancient feudal government 
now remained in France. The only subsisting fiefs were Bur- 
gundy and Brittany. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, 
who sought to increase his territories by the conquest of Swit- 
zerland and Lorraine, was defeated by the Swiss, and killed 
in battle. He left no son, and Lewis XI of France took pos- 
session of Burgundy as a male fief, 1447. The duke's daugh- 
ter married Maximilian, son of ihe emperor Frederick III, 
who, by this marriage, acquired the sovereignty of the Ne- 
therlands. 

2. The acquisition of Burgundy and of Provence, which was 
bequeathed to France by the Count de la Mar ehe, increased 
greatly the power of the crown. Lewis XI, an odious compound 
of vice ? cruelty^ and superstition,, and a tyrant to his people,, was 



SECT. 28. MODERN HISTORY. 243 

the author of many wise and excellent regulations of public 
policy. The barbarity of the public executions in his reign 
is beyond all belief; yet the wisdom of his laws, the encourage- 
ment which he gave to commerce, the restraints which he 
imposed on the oppressions of the nobility, and the attention 
whiuh he bestowed in regulating the courts of justice, must 
ever be mentioned to his honour. 

3. The Count de laMarche, beside the bequest of Provence to 
Lewis XI, left him his empty title of sovereign of the Two Si- 
cilies. Lewis was satisfied with the substantial gift; but his son 
Charles VIII was dazzled with the shadow. In the beginning 
of his reign he projected the conquest of Naples, and embark- 
ed in the enterprise with the most improvident precipitancy. 

4. The dismembered state of Italy was favourable to his 
views. The popedom during the transference of its seat to 
Avignon, had lost many of its territories. Mantua* Modena, 
and Ferrara, had their independent sovereigns. Piedmont 
belonged to the duke of Savoy; Genoa and Milan to the family 
of Sforza. Florence, under the Medici, had attained a very 
high pitch of splendour. Cosmo, the founder of that family, 
employed a vast fortune, acquired by commerce, in the im- 
provement of his country, in acts of public munificence, and 
in the cultivation of the sciences and elegant arts. His high 
reputation obtained for himself and his posterity the chief au- 
thority in his native state. Peter de Medici, his great grand- 
son, ruled in Florence at the period of the expedition of 
Charles VIII into Italy. 

5. The papacy was enjoyed at this time by Alexander VI, a 
monster of wickedness. The pope and the duke of Milan, who 
had invited Charles to this enterprise, immediately betrayed 
him, and joined the interest of the king of Naples. Charles, 
after besieging the pope in Rome, and forcing him to submis- 
sion, devoutly kissed his feet. He now marched against Na- 
ples, while its timid prince Alphonso fled to Sicily, and his son 
to the isle of Ischia, after absolving his subjects from their 
allegianee. Charles entered Naples in triumph, and was hailed 
emperor and Augustus: but he lost his new kingdom in almost 
as short a time as he had gained it. A league was formed 

Till 



24* modern HISTORY. PART II. 

against France between the pope, the emperor Maximilian, 
Ferdinand of Arragon, Isabella of Castile, and the Venetians; 
and on the return of Charles to France the troops which he had 
left to guard his conquest were entirely driven out of Italy. 

6. It has been remarked that, from the decisive effect of 
this confederacy against Charles VIII, the sovereigns of Eu- 
rope derived a useful lesson of policy, and first adopted the 
idea of preserving a balance of power, by that tacit league 
which is understood to be always subsisting, for the preven- 
tion of the inordinate aggrandizement of any particular state. 

7. Charles VIII died at the age of twenty-eight, 1498; and, 
leaving no children, the duke of Orleans succeeded to the 
throne of France by the title of Lewis XII. 



SECTION XXIX. 

HISTORY OF SPAIN IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH 

GENTURY. 

1. We go back to the middle of the fourteenth century, to 
trace the history of Spain. Peter of Castile, surnamed the 
Cruel (for no other reason but that he employed severe means 
to support his just rights) had to contend against a bastard bro- 
ther, Henry of Transtamarre, who, with the aid of a French 
banditti, called Malandrins, led by Bertrand du Guesclin, 
strove to dispossess him of his kingdom. Peter was aided by 
Edward the Black Prince, then sovereign of Guienne, who de- 
feated Transtamarre, and took Bertrand prisoner," but, on the 
return of the prince to England, Peter was attacked by his 
former enemies and entirely defeated. He was unable to re- 
strain his rage in the first interview with Transtamarre, who 
put him to death with his own hand, 1368. Thus this usurper 
secured for himself and his posterity the throne of Castile. 

9. The weakness and debauchery of one of his descendents, 
Henry IV of Castile, occasioned a revolution in the kingdom. 
The majority of the nation rose in rebellion; the assembly of 
the nobles solemnly deposed their king, and, on the alleged 



SECT. 29. MODERN HISTORY. 245 

ground of his daughter Joanna being a bastard, compelled him 
to settle the crown on his sister Isabella. They next brought 
about a marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand of Arragon, 
which united the monarchies of Arragon and Castile. After 
a ruinous civil war the revolution was at length completed by 
the deatii of the deposed sovereign, 1474, and the retirement 
of his daughter Joanna to a monastery, 1479. 

3. At the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella to the thrones 
of Arragon and Castile, Spain was in a state of great disorder, 
from the lawless depredations of the nobles and their vassals, 
It was the first object of the new sovereigns to repress those 
enormities, by subjecting the offenders to the utmost rigour of 
law, enforced by the sword. The holy brotherhood was insti- 
tuted for the discovery and punishment of crimes; and the in- 
quisition (Sect. XIX, § 3) under the pretext of extirpating 
heresy and impiety, afforded the most detestable examples of 
sanguinary persecution. 

4. The Moorish kingdom of Granada, a most splendid mo- 
narchy, but at that time weakened by faction, and a prey to 
civil war, offered a tempting object to the ambition of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella. Alboacen was at war with his nephew 
Aboabdeli, who wanted to dethrone him; and Ferdinand aided 
Aboabdeli, in the view of ruining both; for no -sooner was the 
latter in possession of the crown by the death of Alboacen, 
than Ferdinand invaded his ally with the whole force of Ar- 
ragon and Castile. Granada was besieged in 1491, and, after 
a blockade of eight months, surrendered to the victor. Aboab- 
deli, by a mean capitulation, saved his life, and purchased a 
retreat for his countrymen to a mountainous part of the king- 
dom, where they were suffered to enjoy unmolested their 
laws and their religion. Thus ended the dominion of the 
Moors in Spain, which had subsisted for 800 years. 

5. Ferdinand, from that period, took the title of king of 
Spain. In 1492 he expelled all the Jews from his dominions - 
on the absurd ground, that they kept in their hands the com- 
merce of the kingdom; and Spain thus lost above 150000 of 
the most industrious of her inhabitants. The exiles spread 
themselves over the other kingdoms of Europe, and were 



2^6 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

often the victims of a persecution equally inhuman. It would 
appear that Spain has felt, even to the present times, the ef- 
fects of this folly, in the slow progress of the arts, and that 
deplorable inactivity which is the characteristic of her people. 
Even the discovery of the new world, which happened at this 
very period, and which stimulated the spirit of enterprise 
and industry in all the neighbouring kingdoms, produced but 
a feeble impression on that nation, which might in a great 
degree have monopolized its benefits. Of that great disco- 
ve ry Ave shall afterward treat in a separate section. 

SECTION XXX. 

FRANCE, SPAIN, AND ITALY, IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH 
AND BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. Lewis XII, eagerly bent on vindicating his right to Na- 
ples, courted the interest of pope Alexander VI, who promised 
his aid on condition that his natural son, Csesar Borgia, should 
receive from Lewis the dutchy of Valentinois, with the king of 
Navarre's sister in marriage. Lewis crossed the Alps, and 
in the space of a few days was master of Milan and Genoa. 
Sforza duke of Milan became his prisoner for life. Afraid 
of the power of Ferdinand of Spain, Lewis joined with him in 
the conquest of Naples, and agreed to divide with him the 
conquered dominions, the pope making no scruple to sanction 
the partition, But the compromise was of no duration,* for 
Alexander VI and Ferdinand, judging it a better policy to 
share Italy between themselves, united their interest to de- 
prive Lewis of his new territories. The Spaniards, under 
Gonsalvo de Cordova, defeated the French, under the duke 
de Nemours and the chevalier Bayard; arid Lewis irrecovera- 
bly lost his share of the kingdom of Naples. 

2. History relates with horror the crimes of pope Alexander 
VI, and his son Csesar Borgia; their murders, robberies, profa- 
nations, incests- They compassed their ends in attaining every 
object of their ambition, but with the universal abhorrence of 
mankind, and finally met with an ample retribution for their 



SECT. 30. MODERN HISTORY. 247 

crimes. The pope died by poison, prepared, as was alleged, 
by himself for an enemy; and Borgia, stripped of all his pos- 
sessions by pope Julius II, and sent prisoner to Spain by Gon- 
salvo de Cordova, perished in miserable obscurity. 

3. Julius II, the successor of Alexander, projected the for- 
midable league of Cambray, 1508, with the emperor, the 
kings of France and Spain, the duke of Savoy, and king of 
Hungary, for the destruction of Venice, and the division of 
her territories among the confederates. They accomplished 
in part their design, and Venice was on the verge of annihi- 
lation, when the pope changed his politics. Having made the 
French subservient to his views of plundering the Venetians, 
he now formed a new league with the Venetians, Germans, 
and Spaniards, to expel the Freneh from Italy, and appropri- 
ate all their conquests. The Swiss and the English co-ope- 
rated in this design. The French made a brave resistance 
under their generals Bayard and Gaston de Foix, but were 
finally overpowered. Lewis was compelled to evacuate Italy. 
Ferdinand, with the aid of Henry VIII of England, stripped 
him of Navarre, and forced him to purchase a peace. He 
died in 1515. Though unfortunate in his military enterprises, 
from the superior abilities of his rivals pope Julius and Fer- 
dinand, yet he was justly esteemed by his subjects for the 
wisdom and equity of his government. 



SECTION XXXI. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH 
TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. CIVIL 
WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER. 

1. We have seen France recovered from the English in the 
early part of the reign of Henry VI, by the talents and prow- 
ess of Charles VII. During the minority of Henry, who was 
a prince of no capacity, England was embroiled by the fac- 
tious contention for po\Ver between his uncles, the duke of 
Gloucester and the cardinal of Winchester. The latter, to pro- 



248 MODERN HISTORY. PART IT.. 

mote his own views of ambition, married Henry to Margaret 
of Anjou, daughter of Regner the titular king of Naples, a 
woman of great mental endowments and singular heroism of 
character, but whose severity in the persecution of her ene- 
mies alienated a great part of the nobles from their allegi- 
ance, and increased the partizans of a rival claimant of the 
crown. 

■2. This was Richard duke of York, descended by his mo- 
ther from Lionel, second son of Edward III, and elder bro- 
ther to John of Gaunt, the progenitor of Henry VI. The 
white rose distinguished the faction of York, and the red rose 
that of Lancaster. The party of York gained much strength 
from the incapacity of Henry, who was subject to periodical 
madness; and Richard was appointed lieutenant and protector 
of the kingdom. The authority of Henry was now annihi- 
lated; but Margaret roused her husband, in an interval of sa- 
nity, to assert his right; and the nation was divided in arms 
between the rival parties. In the battle of St. Alban's 5000 
of the Lancastrians were slain, and the king was taken pri- 
soner by the duke of York, on the 22d day of May, 1455. Yet 
the parliament, while it confirmed the authority of the pro- 
tector, maintained its allegiance to the king. 

3. The spirit of the queen reanimated the royal party; and 
the Lancastrians gained such advantage, that the duke of 
York fled to Ireland, while his cause was secretly maintained 
in England by Guy earl of Warwick. In the battle of Nor- 
thampton the party of York again prevailed, and Henry once 
more was brought prisoner to London; while his dauntless 
queen still nobly exerted herself to retrieve his fortunes. 
York now claimed the crown in open parliament, but prevail- 
ed only to have his right of succession ascertained on Henry's 
death, to the exclusion of the royal issue. 

4. In the next battle the duke of York was slain, and his 
party defeated; but his successor Edward, supported by War- 
wick, avenged this disaster by a signal victory near Touton, 
in Yorkshire, in which 40000 of the Lancastrians were slain. 
York was proclaimed king by the title of Edward IV, while 
Margaret, with her dethroned husband and infant son, fled 
into Flanders. 



SECT. 3,1. MODERN HISTORY. 249 

5. Edward, who owed his crown to Warwick, was ungrate- 
ful to his benefactor; and the imprudence and injustice of his 
conduct forced that nobleman at length to take part with the 
faction of Lancaster. The consequence was, that, after some 
struggles, Edward was deposed, and Henry VI once more 
restored to the throne by the hands of Warwick, now known 
by the epithet of the king-maker. But this change was of no 
duration. The party of York ultimately prevailed. The 
Lancastrians were defeated in the battle of Barnet, and the 
brave Warwick was slain in the engagement, 1472 

6. The intrepid Margaret, whose spirit was superior to 
every change of fortune, prepared to strike a last blow for 
the crown of England in the battle of Tewksbury. The 
event was fatal to her hopes: victory declared for Edward. 
Margaret was sent prisoner to the tower of London; and the 
prince her son, a youth of high spirit, when brought into the 
presence of his conqueror, having nobly dared to justify his 
enterprise to the face of his rival, was barbarously murdered 
by the Dukes of Gloucester and Clarence. Henry VI was 
soon after privately put to death in the tower. The heroic 
Margaret, ransomed by Lewis XI, died in France, 1482. 

7. Edward IV, thus secured on the throne by the death of 
all his competitors, abandoned himself without reserve to the 
indulgence of a vitious and tyrannical nature. He put to 
death, on the most frivolous pretence, his brother Clarence; 
Preparing to gratify his subjects by a war with France, he 
died suddenly in the forty-second year of his age, poisoned, as 
was suspected, by his brother Richard duke of Gloucester, 
1483. 

8. Edward left two sons, the elder, Edward V, a boy of 
thirteen years of age. Richard duke of Gloucester, named 
protector in the minority of his nephew, hired, by means of 
Buckingham, a mob of the dregs of the populace to declare 
their wish for his assumption of the crown. He yielded, with 
affected reluctance, to this voice of the nation, and was pro- 
claimed king by the title of Richard III, 1483. After a 
reign of two months, Edward V, with his brother, the duke of 



250 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

York, were, by command of the usurper, smothered while 
asleep, and privately buried in the Tower. 

9. Those atrocious crimes found an avenger in Henry earl 
of Richmond, the surviving heir of the house of Lancaster, 
who, aided by Charles VIII of France, landed in England, 
and revived the spirits of a party almost extinguished in the 
kingdom. He gave battle to Richard in the field of Bosworth, 
and entirely defeated the army of the usurper, who was slain 
while fighting with the most desperate courage, August 22, 
1485. The crown which he wore in the engagement was im- 
mediately placed on the head of the conqueror. This auspi- 
cious day put an end to the civil wars of York and Lancaster. 
Henry VII united the rights of both families by his marriage 
with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. 

10. The reign of Henry VII was of twenty-four years' du- 
ration; and under his wise and politic government the king- 
dom recovered all the wounds which it had sustained in those 
unhappy contests. Industry, good order, and perfect subor- 
dination, were the fruit of the excellent laws passed in this 
reign; though the temper of the sovereign was despotic, and 
his avarice, in the latter part of his reign, prompted to the 
most oppressive exactions. 

11. The government of Henry was disturbed by two very 
singular enterprises; the attempt of Lambert Simnel, the 
son of a baker, to counterfeit the person of the earl of War- 
wick, son of the duke of Clarence; and the similar attempt of 
Perkin Warbeck, son of a Flemish Jew, to counterfeit the 
duke of York, who had been smothered in the Tower by Ri- 
chard III. Both impostors found considerable support, but 
were finally defeated. Simnel, after being crowned king of 
England and Ireland at Dublin, ended his days in a menial 
office of Henry's household. Perkin supported his cause by 
force of arms for five years, and was aided by a great pro- 
portion of the English nobility. Overpowered at length he 
surrendered to Henry, who condemned him to perpetual im- 
prisonment; but his ambitious spirit meditated a new insur- 
rection, and he was put to death as a traitor. Henry VH 
died in 1509, in the fifty-third year of his age, and the twen- 
ty-fourth of bis reigne 



SECT. 32; MODERN HISTORY. 251 

SECTION XXXII. 

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF JAMES V. 

1. In no country of Europe had the feudal aristocracy attain- 
ed to a greater height than in Scotland. The power of the 
greater barons, while it rendered them independent, and often 
the rivals of their sovereign, was a perpetual source of turbu- 
lence and disorder in the kingdom. It was therefore a con- 
stant policy of the Scottish kings to humble the nobles, and 
break their factious combinations. Robert I attempted to 
retrench the vast territorial possessions of his barons, by re- 
quiring every land holder to produce the titles of his estate; 
but was resolutely answered, that the sword was their charter 
of possession. 

2. On the death of Robert in 1329, and during the minority 
of his son David, Edward Baliol, the son of John, formerly 
king of Scotland, with the aid of Edward III of England, and 
of many of the factious barons, invaded the kingdom, and 
was crowned at Scone, while the young David was conveyed 
for security to France. The mean dependence of Baliol on the 
English monarch deprived him of the affections of the people. 
Robert (the steward of Scotland) Randolph, and Douglas, 
supported the Brucian interest, and, assisted by the French, 
restored David to his throne. This prince was destined to 
sustain many reverses of fortune; for, in a subsequent invasion 
of the English territory by the Scots, he was taken prioner in 
the battle of Durham, and conveyed to London. He remained 
eleven years in captivity, and witnessed a similar fate of a 
brother monarch, John, king of France, taken prisoner by the 
Black Prince in the battle of Poictiers. David was ransomed by 
his subjects, and restored to his kingdom in 1 357; and ended 
a turbulent reign in 1370-1. The crown passed at his demise 
to his nephew Robert, the high steward of Scotland, in vir- 
tue of a destination made by Robert I. 

3. The reign of Robert II, which was of 20 years' dura- 
tion, was spent in a series of hostilities between the Scots and 

i i 



252 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

English, productive of no material consequence to either king- 
dom. The weak and indolent disposition of his successor Ro- 
bert III, who found himself unequal to the contest with his 
factious nobles, prompted him to resign the government to his 
brother, the duke of Albany. This ambitious man formed the 
design of usurping the throne by the murder of his nephews, 
the sons of Robert. The elder, Rothsay, a prince of high 
spirit, was imprisoned on pretence of treasonable designs, and 
starved to death, The younger, James, escaped a similar 
fate which was intended for him; but on his passage to France, 
whither he was sent for safety by his father, he was taken by 
an English ship of war, and brought prisoner to London. The 
weak Robert sunk under those misfortunes, and died, 1405, 
after a reign of fifteen years. 

4. James I, a prince of great natural endowments, profited 
by a captivity of eighteen years at the court of England, in 
adorning his mind with every valuable accomplishment. At 
his return to his kingdom, which in his absence had been 
weakly governed by the regent Albany, and suffered under all 
the disorders of anarchy, he bent his whole attention to the im- 
provement and civilisation of his people, by the enactment of 
mauy excellent laws, enforced with a resolute authority. * The 
factions of the nobles, their dangerous combinations, and their 
domineering tyranny over their dependents, the great sources of 
the people's miseries, were firmly restrained, and most severe- 
ly punished. But those wholesome innovations, while they 
procured to James the affections of the nation at large, exci- 
ted the odium of the nobility, and gave birth to a conspiracy, 
headed by the earl of Athole, the king's uncle, which termi- 
nated in the murder of this excellent prince, in the *ith year 
of his age, A. D. 1 i37. 

5. His son James II inherited a considerable portion of the 
talents of his father; and, in the like purpose of restraining 
ihe inordinate power of his nobles, pursued the same maxims 
of government, which an impetuous temper prompted him, in 
some instances, to carry to the most blameable excess. The 
earl of Douglas, trusting to a powerful vassalage, had assumed 
an authority above the laws, and a state and splendour rival- 



SECT. 32. MODERN HISTORY. 253 

ing those of his sovereign. He was seized, and beheaded with- 
out accusation or trial. His successor imprudently running 
the same career, and boldly justifying, in a conference, his 
rebellious practices, was put to death by the king's own 
hand. Thus were the factions of the nobles quelled by a bar- 
barous rigour of authority. To his people James was benefi- 
cent and humane, and his laws contributed materially to their 
civilisation and prosperity. He was killed, in the 30th year 
of his age, by the bursting of a cannon, in besieging the castle 
of Roxburgh, A.D. 1460. 

6. His son James III, without the talents of his predeces- 
sors, affected to tread in the same steps. To humble his no- 
bles he bestowed his confidence on mean favourites, an insult 
which the former avenged by rebellion. His brothers Albany 
and Mar, aided by Edward IV of England, attempted a re- 
volution in the kingdom, which was frustrated only by the 
death of Edward. In the second rebellion the confederate 
nobles forced the prince of Rothsay, eldest son of James, to 
appear in arms against his father. In an engagement near 
Bannockburn the rebels were successful, and the king was 
slain in the 35th year of his age, 1488. 

7. James IV, a great and most accomplished prince, whose 
talents were equalled by his virtues, while his measures of go- 
vernment were dictated by a true spirit of patriotism, won by 
a well-placed confidence the affections of his nobility. In his 
marriage with Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII of En- 
gland, both sovereigns wisely sought a bond of amity between 
the kingdoms; but this purpose was frustrated in the succeed- 
ing reign of Henry VIII. The high spirit of the rival mo- 
narchs was easily inflamed by trifling causes of offence; and 
France, then at war with England, courted the aid of her an- 
cient ally. James invaded England with a powerful army, 
which he wished to lead to immediate action; but the prudent 
delays of Surrey, the English general, Avasted, and weak- 
ened his force. In the fatal battle of Flodden the Scots were 
defeated with prodigious slaughter. The gallant James pe- 
rished in the fight, and with him almost the whole of the 
Scottish nobles, A. D. 1513. 



254 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

8. Under the long minority of his son James V, an infant 
at the time of his father's death, the kingdom was feebly ruled 
by his uncle Albany. The aristocracy began io resume its an- 
cient spirit of independence, which was ill-brooked by a prince 
of a proud and uncontrollable mind, who felt the keenest jea- 
lousy of a high prerogative. With a systematic policy he em- 
ployed the church to abase the nobility, conferring all the of- 
fices of state on ahle ecclesiastics. The Cardinal Beaton, 
co-operated with great zeal in the designs of his master, and 
under him ruled the kingdom. 

9. Henry VIII, embroiled with the papacy, sought an alli- 
ance with the king of Scots; but the ecclesiastical counsellors 
of the latter defeated this beneficial purpose. A war was thus 
provoked, and James was reluctantly compelled to court 
those nobles whom it had hitherto been his darling object to 
humiliate. They now determined on a disgraceful revenge. 
In an attack on the Scottish border the English were repelled, 
and an opportunity offered to the Scots of cutting off iheir re- 
treat. The king gave his orders to that end, but his barons obsti- 
nately refused to advance beyond the frontier. One measure 
more was wanting to drive their sovereign to despair, in a 
subsequent engagement with the English 10000 of the Scots 
deliberately surrendered themselves prisoners to 500 of the 
enemy. The high spirit of James sunk under his contending 
passions, and he died of a broken heart in the 33d year of his 
age, A. D. 154*2, a few days after the birth of a daughter, yet 
more unfortunate than her father, Mary queen of Scots. 



SECTION XXXIII. 
oe the ancient constitution or the Scottish 

GOVERNMENT. 

1. We have seen that it was a constant policy of the Scottish 
kings to abase the power of their nobles; and that the struggle 
for power was the source of much misery and bloodshed. But 
this policy was necessary, from the dangerous ambition and law- 
less tyranny of those nobles, who frequently aimed at overturn- 



SECT. 33. MODERN HISTORY. %5& 

ing the throne, and exercised the severest oppression on all 
their dependents. The interests, therefore, of the people, no 
less than the security of the prince, demanded the repression 
of this overweening and destructive power. The aristocracy 
was, however, preserved, no Jess by its own strength than by 
the concurrence of circumstances, and chienS by the violent 
and unhappy fate of the sovereigns. Meantime, though the 
measures which the kings pursued were not successful, yet 
their consequences were beneficial. They restrained, if they 
did not destroy, the spirit of feudal oppression, and gave birth 
to order, wise laws, and a more tranquil administration of 
government. 

2. The legislative power, though nominally resident in the 
parliament, was virtually in the king, who, by his influences 
entirely controlled its proceedings. The parliament consist- 
ed of three estates, the nobles, the dignified clergy, and the 
less barons, who were the representatives of the towns and 
shires. The disposal of benefices gave the crown the entire 
command of the churchmen, who were equal to the nobles in 
number, and at least a majority of the commons were the 
dependents of the sovereign. A committee, termed the lords 
of the articles, prepared every measure thai was to come be- 
fore the parliament. By the mode of its election this com- 
mittee was in effect nominated by the king, it is to the cre- 
dit of the Scottish princes, that there are few instances of 
their abusing an authority so extensive as that which they 
constitutionally enjoyed. 

3. The king had anciently the supreme jurisdiction in all 
causes, civil and criminal, which he generally exercised 
through the medium of his privy council: but in 1425 James 
I instituted the court of session, consisting of the chancellor 
and certain judges chosen from the three estates. This court 
was new-modelled by James V, and its jurisdiction limited 
to civil causes, the cognizance of crimes being committed to 
the justiciary. The chancellor was the highest officer of the 
crown, and president of the parliament. To the chamberlain 
belonged the care of the finances and the public police; to the 
high steward the charge of the king's household: the consta- 



255 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

ble regulated all matters of military arrangement; and the 
marshal was the king's lieutenant, and master of the horse. 

4*. The revenue of the sovereign consisted of his domain 
which was extensive, of the feudal casualties and forfeitures, 
the profits of the wardships of his vassals, the rents of va- 
cant benefices, the pecuniary fines for offences, and the aids 
or presents occasionally given by the subject; a revenue at all 
times sufficient for the purposes of government, and the sup- 
port of the dignity of the crown. 

5. The political principles which regulated the eonduet of 
the Scots toward other nations were obvious and simple. It 
had ever been an object of ambition to England to acquire the 
sovereignty of Scotland, which was constantly on its guard 
against this design of its more potent neighbour. It was the 
wisest policy for Scotland to attach itself to France, the na- 
tural enemy of England; an alliance reciprocally courted from 
similar motives. In those days this attachment was justly- 
deemed patriotic; while the Scots, who were the partizans 
of England, were with equal justice regarded as traitors to 
their country. In the period of which we now treat, it was 
a settled policy of the English sovereigns to have a secret 
faction in their pay in Scotland, for the purpose of dividing 
and thus enslaving the nation; and to this source all the subs 
sequent disorders of the latter kingdom are to be attributed. 

SECTION XXXIV. 

A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 
IN EUROPE, EROM THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS TO THE END 

\ [ 

OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. The first restorers of learning in Europe were the Arabi- 
ans, who, in the course of their Asiatic conquests, becoming ac- 
quainted with some of the ancient Greek authors, discovered 
and justly appreciated the knowledge and improvement to be 
derived from them. The caliphs procured from the eastern 
emperors copies of the ancient manuscripts, and caused them 
to be translated into Arabic; esteeming principally those 



SECT. 34. MODERN HISTORY. 257 

which treated of mathematics, physics, and metaphysics. 
They disseminated their knowledge in the course of their con- 
quests, and founded schools and colleges in all the countries 
which they subdued. 

2. The western kingdoms of Europe became first acquaint- 
ed with the learning of the ancients through the medium of 
those Arabian translations. Charlemagne caused Latin trans- 
lations to be made from the Arabian, and founded, after the 
example of the caliphs, the universities of Bononia, Pavia, 
Osnaburg, and Paris. Alfred, with a similar spirit, and by 
similar means, introduced a taste for literature in England; 
but the subsequent disorders of the kingdom replunged it into 
barbarism. The Normans, however, brought from the conti- 
nent some tincture of ancient learning, which was kept alive 
in the monasteries, where the monks were meritoriously em- 
ployed in transcribing a few of the ancient authors, along with 
the legendary lives of the saints. 

3. In this dawn of literature in England appeared Henry of 
Huntingdon and Geoffrey of Monmouth, names distinguished 
in the earliest annals of poetry and romance; John of Salis- 
bury, a moralist; AVilliam of Malmesbury, annalist of the his- 
tory of England before the reign of Stephen; Giraldus Cam- 
brensis, known in the fields of history, theology, and poetry; 
Joseph of Exeter, author of two Latin epic poems on the Tro- 
jan war, and the war of Antioch, or the crusade, which are 
read with pleasure even in the present day. 

4. But this era of a good taste in letters was of short dura- 
tion. The taste for classical composition and historical in- 
formation yielded to the barbarous subtleties of scholastic di- 
vinity taught by Lonipard and Abelard, and to the abstruse 
doctrines of the Roman law, which began to engage the gene- 
ral attention from the recent discovery of the pandects at 
Amalphi, 1137. The amusements of the vulgar in those pe- 
riods were metrical and prose romances, unintelligible pro- 
phecies, and fables of giants and enchanters. 

5. In the middle of the thirteenth century appeared a dis- 
tinguished genius, Roger Bacon, an English friar, whose 
comprehensive mind was filled with all the stores of ancient 



2SS MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

learning,* who possessed a discriminating judgment to sepa- 
rate the" precious ore from the dross, and a power of inven- 
tion fitted to advance in every science which was the object of 
his study. He saw the insufficiency of the school philosophy, 
and first recommended the prosecution of knowledge by ex- 
periment and the observation of nature. He made discove- 
ries of importance in astronomy, optics, chemistry, medicine, 
and mechanics. He reformed the kalendar, discovered the 
construction of telescopic glasses, forgotten after his time, 
and revived by Galileo; and has left a plain intimation of his 
knowledge of the composition of gun powder. Yet this su- 
perior genius believed in the possibility of discovering an elixir 
for the prolongation of life, in the transmutation of metals into 
gold, and in judicial astrology. 

6. A general taste prevailed for poetical composition in 
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The troubadours of 
Provence wrote sonnets, madrigals, and satirical ballads; and 
excelled in extempore dialogues on the subject of love, which 
they treated in a metaphysical and Platonic strain. They 
contended for the prize of poetry at solemn meetings, where 
princes, nobles, and the most illustrious ladies attended to de- 
cide between the rival bards; and some of those princes, as 
Richard 1 of England, Frederick I emperor of Germany, are 
celebrated as troubadours of eminence. Many fragments yet 
remain of their compositions. 

7. The transference of the papal seat to Avignon, in the 
fourteenth century, familiarized the Italian poets with the 
songs of the troubadours, and gave a tincture of the Proven- 
cal style to their compositions, which is very observable in 
the poetry of Petrarch and of Dante. ^The Bivina Comedia 
of Dante first introduced the machinery of angels and devils 
in the room of the pagan mythology, and is a work containing 
many examples of the terrible sublime, t The Sonnets and 
Canzoni of Petrarch are highly tender ana pathetic, though 
vitiated with a quaintness and conceit, which is a prevalent 
feature of the Italian poetry. The Decamerone of Boceacio, 
a work of the same age, is a master piece for invention, in- 
genious narrative, and acquaintance with human nature. 
Those authors have fixed the standard of the Italiaja language. 



SECT. 34. MODERN HISTORY. 259 

8. Cotemporary with them, and of rival merit, was the 
English Chaucer, who displays all the talents of Boceacio, 
through the medium of excellent poetry. The works of Chau- 
cer discover an extensive knowledge of the sciences, an ac- 
quaintance hoth with ancient and modern learning, particu- 
larly the literature of France and Italy; and, above all, a 
most acute discernment of life and manners. 

9. Of similar character are the poems of Grower, but of a 
graver cast, and a more chastened morality. Equal to these 
eminent men in every species of literary merit was the ac- 
complished James I of Scotland, of which his remaining 
writings bear convincing testimony. The doubtful Rowley of 
Bristol is said to have adorned the fifteenth century. 

10. Spain at this period began to emerge from ignorance 
and barbarism, and to produce a few of those works which 
are enumerated with approbation in the whimsical but judi- 
cious criticism of Cervantes. (Don Quixote, B. 1, c. 6.) 

11. Though poetry attained in those ages a considerable de- 
gree of splendour, yet there was little advancement in gene- 
ral literature and science. History was disgraced by the in- 
termixture of miracle and fable; yet we find much curious 
information in the writings of Matthew of Westminster, 
of Walsingham, Everard, Duysburg, and the Chronicles of 
Froissart and Monstrelet. Philip de Commines happily de- 
scribes the reigns of Lewis XI and Charles VIII of France. 
Villani and Platina are valuable recorders of the aifairs of 
Italy. 

12. A taste for classical learning in the fifteenth century 
led to the discovery of many of the ancient authors. Poggio 
discovered the writings of Quintilian and several of the com- 
positions of Cicero, which stimulated to farther research, and 
to the recovery of many valuable remains of Greek and Ro- 
man literature. But this taste was not generally diffused. 
France and England were extremely barbarous. The library 
at Oxford contained only 600 volumes, and there were but 
four classics in the royal library at Paris. But a brighter 
period was approaching. On the fall of the eastern empire, 
in the end of the fifteenth century, the dispersion of the 

k k 



260 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

Greeks diffused a taste for polite literature over all the west 
of Europe. A succession of popes, endowed with a liberal and 
enlightened spirit, gave every encouragement to learning and 
the sciences; and. above all, the noble discovery of the art of 
printing contributed to their rapid advancement and dissemi- 
nation, and gave a certain assurance of the perpetuation of 
every valuable art, and the progressive improvement of hu- 
man knowledge. 

13. The rise of dramatic composition among the moderns is 
to be traced to the absurd and ludicrous representation, in the 
churches, of the scripture histories, called in England mys- 
teries, miracles, and moralities. These were first exhibited 
in the twelfth century, and continued to the sixteenth, when 
they were pr hibited by law in England. Of these we have 
amusing specimens in Warton's History of English Poetry, 
Profane dramas were substituted in their place, and a mixture 
of the sacred and profane appears to have been known in 
France as early as 1300. In Spain the farsical mysteries keep 
their ground to the present day, and no regular composition 
for the stage was known till the end of the sixteenth century. 
The Italians are allowed by their own writers to have bor- 
rowed their theatre from the French and English. 

See KetVs Elements of General Knowledge, vol. 1+ 

SECTION XXXV. 

VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE IN EUROPE BEFORE 
THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 

1. Before we give an account of the discoveries of the Por- 
tuguese in the fifteenth century, in exploring a new route t* 
India, we shall present a short view of the progress of com- 
merce in Europe down to that period. 

The boldest naval enterprise of the ancients was the Peri- 
plus of Hanno, who sailed from Carthage to the coast of 
Guinea, within four or five degrees of the equator, A. C. 570- 
The ancients did not know that Africa was almost circumna- 
vigate. They had a very limited knowledge of the habitable 



SECT. 35. MODERN HISTORY. 261 

earth. They believed that both the torrid and frigid zones 
were uninhabitable; and they were very imperfectly acquaint- 
ed with a great part of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Denmark, 
Sweden, Prussia, Poland, the greater part of Russia, \ver«? 
unknown to them. In Ptolemy's description of the globe the 
63d degree of latitude is the limit of the earth to the north, 
and the equator to the south. 

2. Britain was circumnavigated in the time of Domitian. 
The Romans frequented it for the purposes of commerce; and 
Tacitus mentions London as a celebrated resort of merchants. 
The commerce of the ancients was, however, chiefly confined 
to the Mediterranean. In the flourishing periods of the east- 
ern empire the merchandise of India was imported from 
Alexandria; but, after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabians, 
it was carried up the Indus, and thence by land to the Oxus, 
which then ran directly into the Caspian sea; thence it was 
brought up the Wolga, and again carried over land to the 
Don, whence it descended into the Euxine. 

3. After the fall of the western empire commerce was long 
at a stand in Europe. When Attila was ravaging Italy the 
Veneti took refuge in the small islands at the northern ex- 
tremity of the Adriatic, and there founded Venice, A. D. 4*52, 
which began very early to equip small fleets, and trade to the 
coasts of Egypt and the Levant, for spices and other mer- 
«handise of Arabia and India. Genoa, Florence, and Pisa 
imitated this example, and began to acquire considerable 
wealth; but Venice retained her superiority over those rival 
states, and gained considerable territories on the opposite 
©oast of Illyricum and Dalmatia. 

4. The maritime cities of Italy profited by the crusades, in 
furnishing the armies with supplies, and bringing home the 
produce of the east. The Italian merchants established manu- 
factures similar to those of Constantinople. Rogero king of 
Sicily brought artizans from Athens, and established a silk 
manufacture at Palermo in 1130. The sugar-cane was planted 
in Sicily in the twelfth century, and thence carried to Ma- 
deira, and finally made its way to the West Indies. 



262 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

5. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Italians were 
the only commercial people of Europe. Venice set the first 
example of a national bank in 1157, which has maintained its 
credit to the present times. The only trade of France, Spain, 
and Germany, at this time, was carried on at stated fairs and 
markets, to which traders resorted from all quarters, paying 
a tax to the sovereigns or the lords of the territory. The 
more enterprising bought a privilege of exemption, by paying 
at once a large sum, and were thence called free traders. 

6. In the middle ages the Italian merchants, usually called 
Lombards, were the factors of all the European nations, and 
were enticed, by privileges granted by the sovereigns, to set- 
tle in France, Spain, Germany, and England. They were 
not only traders in commodities, but bankers, or money-deal- 
ers. In this last business they found a severe restraint from 
the canon law prohibiting the taking of interest; and hence, 
from the necessary privacy of their bargains, there were no 
bounds to exorbitant usury. The Jews, too, who were the 
chief dealers in money, brought disrepute on the trade of 
banking, and frequently suffered, on that account, the most 
intolerable persecution and confiscation of their fortunes. To 
guard against these injuries they invented bills of exchange. 

7. The Lombard merchants excited a spirit of commerce, 
and gave birth to manufactures, which were generally en- 
couraged by the sovereigns in the different kingdoms of Eu- 
rope. Among the chief encouragements was the institution 
of corporations or monopolies, the earliest of which are 
traced up to the eleventh century; a policy beneficial, and 
perhaps necessary, where the spirit of industry is low, and 
manufactures are in their infancy; but of hurtful consequence 
where trade and manufactures are flourishing. 

8. Commerce began to spread toward the north of Europe 
about the end of the twelfth century. The sea ports on the 
Baltic traded with France and Britain, and with the Mediter- 
ranean by the staple of the isle of Oleron, near the mouth of 
the Garonne, then possessed by the English. The commer- 
cial laws of Oleron and Wisbuy (on the Baltic) regulated for 
many ages the trade of Europe. To protect their trade from 



SECT. 35. MODERN filSTORY. 263 

piracy, Lubec, Hamburgh, and most of the northern sea-ports, 
joined in a confederacy, under certain general regulations, 
termed the league of the hanse-towns; a union so beneficial 
in its nature, and so formidable in point of strength, that its 
alliance was courted by the predominant powers of Europe. 

9. For the trade of the hanse-towns with the southern 
kingdoms, Bruges, on the coast of Flanders, was found a con- 
venient entrepot, and thither the Mediterranean merchants 
brought the commodities of India and the Levant to exchange 
with the produce and manufactures of the north. The Fle- 
mings now began to encourage trade and manufactures, which 
thence spread to the Brabanters; but their growth being 
checked by the impolitic sovereigns of those provinces, they 
found a more favourable field in England, which was des- 
tined to derive from them the great source of its national opu- 
lence. 

10. The Britons had very early seen the importance of 
commerce. Bede relates that London was frequented by 
foreigners for the purpose of trade in 614j and William of 
Malmesbury speaks of it, in 1041, as a most populous and 
wealthy city." The cinque-ports, Dover, Hastings, Hythe, 
Romney, and Sandwich, obtained in that age their privileges 
and immunities, on condition of furnishing each five ships of 
war. These ports are now eight in number, and send their 
members to parliament. 

11. The woollen manufacture of England was considerable 
in the twelfth century. Henry II incorporated the weavers 
of London, and gave them various privileges. By a law pas- 
sed in his reign, all cloth made of foreign wool was condemned 
to be burnt. Scotland at this time seems to have possessed a 
considerable source of wealth, as is evident from the payment 
of the ransom of William the Lion, which was 10000 merks, 
equal to 100000L sterling of present money. The English 
found it difficult to raise double that sum for the ransom of 
Richard I, and the Scots contributed a proportion of it. The 
English sovereigns at first drew a considerable revenue from 
the custom on wool exported to be manufactured abroad; but 
becoming soon sensible of the benefit of encouraging its home 



26% MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

manufacture, they invited, for that purpose, the foreign arti- 
zans and merchants to reside in England, and gave them 
valuable immunities. Edward III was peculiarly attentive to 
trade and manufactures, as appears by the laws passed in his 
reign; and he was bountiful in the encouragement of foreign 
artizans. The succeeding reigns were not so favourable. 
During the civil wars of York and Lancaster the spirit of 
trade and manufactures greatly declined; nor did they begin 
to revive and flourish till the accession of Henry VII. In that 
interval of their decay in England commerce and the arts 
were encouraged in Scotland by James I and his successors, 
as much as the comparatively rude and turbulent state of the 
kingdom would permit. The herring fishery then began to 
be vigorously promoted; and the duties laid on the exporta- 
tion of woollen cloth show that this manufacture was then 
considerable among the Scots. Glasgow began to acquire 
wealth by the fisheries in 1420, but had little or no foreign 
trade till after the discovery of America and the West Indies. 
12. Henry VII gave the most liberal encouragement to 
trade and manufactures, particularly the woollen, by inviting 
foreign artizans, and establishing them at Leeds, Wakefield, 
Halifax, and other places. The navigation acts were passed 
in his reign, and commercial treaties formed with the conti- 
nental kingdoms for the protection of the merchant-shipping. 
Such was the state of commerce at the time when the Portu- 
guese made those great discoveries which opened a new route 
to India, and gave a circulation to its wealth over most of the 
nations of Europe. 



SECTION XXXVI. 

DISCOVERIES OP THE PORTUGUESE IN THE FIFTEENTH CEN- 
TURY, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE COMMERCE OF EU- 
ROPE. 

1. The polarity of the magnet had been known in Europe as 
early as the thirteenth century; but the compass was not used 



SECT. 56. MODERN HISTORY. 265 

in sailing till the middle of the fourteenth; and another eentur j 
had elapsed from that period, while yet the European mari- 
ners scarcely ventured out of the sight of their coasts. The 
eastern ocean was little known; and the Atlantic was suppo- 
sed to be a boundless expanse of sea, extending probably to 
the eastern shores of Asia. In the belief that the torrid zone 
was uninhabitable, a promontory on the African coast, in the 
29th degree of north latitude, was termed Cape Non, as form- 
ing an impassable limit. 

2. In the beginning of the fifteenth century John king of 
Portugal sent a few vessels to explore the African coast; and 
these doubling Cape Non proceeded to Cape Boyador, within 
two degrees of the northern tropic Prince Henry, the son 
of John, equipped a single ship, which, being driven out to 
sea, landed on the island of Porto Santo This involuntary 
experiment emboldened the mariners to abandon their timid 
mode of coasting, and lanch into the open sea. In 1420 the 
Portuguese discovered Madeira, where they established a co- 
lony, and planted the Cyprus-vine and the sugar-cane. 

3. The spirit of enterprise being thus awakened, prince 
Henry obtained from Eugene IV a bull granting to the Portu- 
guese < he property of all the countries which they might dis- 
cover between Cape Non and India. Under John II of Por- 
tugal the Cape Verd islands were discovered and colonized,* 
and the fleets, advancing to the coast of Guinea, brought 
home gold-dust, gums, and ivory. Having passed the equa- 
tor, the Portuguese entered a new hemisphere, and boldly 
proceeded to the extremity of the continent. In 1479 a fleet 
under Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and, 
sailing onward beyond the mouths of the Arabian and Per- 
sian gulfs, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast, after 
a voyage of 1500 leagues, performed in thirteen months. 

4. De Gama entered into an alliance with the Rajah of Ca- 
licut, a tributary of the Mogul empire, and returned to Lisbon 
with specimens of the wealth and produce of the country. A 
succeeding fleet formed settlements, and, vanquishing the op- 
position of the native princes, soon achieved the conquest of 
all the coast of Malabar. The city of Goa, taken by storm, 



266 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

became the residence of a Portuguese viceroy, and the capi- 
tal of their Indian settlements. 

5. The Venetians, who had hitherto engrossed the Indian 
trade by Alexandria, now lost it forever. After an ineffec- 
tual project of cutting through the isthmus of Suez, they at- 
tempted to intercept the Portuguese by their fleets stationed 
at the mouth of the Red sea and Persian gnlf, but were every 
where encountered by a superior force. The Portuguese 
made settlements in both the gulfs, and vigorously prosecu- 
ted their conquests on the Indian coast and sea. The rich 
island of Ceylon, the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam, and Malacca, 
were speedily subdued, and a settlement established in Ben- 
gal. They proceeded onward to China, hitherto scarcely 
known to the Europeans but by the account of a single Vene- 
tian traveller, Marco Pslolo, in the thirteenth century,' and 
they obtained the emperor's permission to form a settlement 
at Macao; thus opening a commerce with that immense em- 
pire, and the neighbournig islands of Japan. In the space of 
fifty years the Portuguese were masters of the whole trade 
of the Indian ocean, and sovereigns of a large extent of Asi- 
atic territory. 

6. Those discoveries produced a wonderful effect on the 
commerce of Europe. The produce of the spice islands was 
computed to be worth annually 200000 ducats to Lisbon. The 
Venetians, after every effort to destroy the trade of the Por- 
tuguese, offered to become sole purchasers of all the spice 
brought to Europe, but were refused. Commercial industry 
was roused in every quarter, and manufactures made a rapid 
progress. Lyons, Tours, Abbeville, Marseilles, Bourdeaux, 
.acquired immense wealth. Antwerp and Amsterdam became 
the great marts of the north. The former owed its splendor 
to the decline of Bruges, which was ruined by civil commotions; 
and the Portuguese made Antwerp their entrepot for the sup- 
ply of the northern kingdoms. It continued highly flourish- 
ing till the revolt of the Netherlands, in the end of the six- 
teenth century, when it was taken by the Spaniards, and its 
port destroyed by blocking up the Scheldt. 



SECT. 36. MODERN HISTORY. 267 

7. The trade of Holland rose on the fall of Antwerp. Am- 
sterdam had become considerable after the decline of the 
hanseatic confederacy in 1428, but rose into splendour and high 
commercial opulence from the destruction of Antwerp. The 
United Provinces, dependent on industry alone for their sup- 
port, became a model of commercial activity to all nations. 

8. Britain felt the effect of that general stimulus which the 
Portuguese discoveries gave to the trade of Europe; but other 
causes had a more sensible operation to that end in England. 
The reformation, by suppressing the convents, and restoring 
many thousands to society, and the cutting off the papal ex- 
actions, which drained the kingdom of its wealth, the politic 
laws passed in the reign of Henry VIII, and the active patri- 
otism of Elizabeth, were vigorous incentives to national in- 
dustry. 

9. From the time of Henry VIII to the present, the com- 
merce and manufactures of England have been uniformly pro- 
gressive. The rental of England in lands and houses did not 
then exceed five millions per annum; it is now above eighteen 
millions. The unmanufactured wool of one year's growth is 
supposed to be worth two millions; when manufactured, as it 
now is, by British hands, it is worth eight millions. Above a 
million and a half of hands are employed in that manufacture 
alone; half a million are employed in the manufactures of iron, 
steel, copper, brass, lead; the linen manufactures of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland occupy nearly a million; and a number 
not much inferior is employed in the fisheries. It is presuma- 
ble, on the whole, that nearly a fourth of the population of the 
united kingdom is actually employed in commerce and manu- 
factures. ' 

10. The vast increase of the national wealth of Britain ap- 
pears chiefly, 1, from the increase of population, which is sup- 
posed to be nearly five to one (at least in the large cities) 
since the reign of Elizabeth; 2, from the great addition made 
to the cultivated lands of the kingdom, and the high improve- 
ment of agriculture since that period, whence more than 
quadruple the quantity of food is produced; 3, from the in- 
crease of the commercial shipping, at least sixfold within the 

same time; 4, from the comparative low rate of interest, which 

! 1 



268 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

i is demonstrative of the increase of wealth. The consequences 
of the diffusion of the commercial spirit are most important 

i to the national welfare. From general industry arises afflu- 
ence, joined to a spirit of independence; and on this spirit 
rests the freedom of the British constitution, and all the bles- 
sings which we enjoy under its protection. 

SECTION XXXVII. 

GERMANY AND TRANCE IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES V AND 

ERANCIS I. 

1. We resume the detail of the history of Europe at the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century, previously remarking, that 
the Germanic empire continued for above fifty years in a state 
of languid tranquillity, from the time of Abert II, the suc- 
cessor of Sigismund, during the long reign of Frederick III, 
whose son Maximilian acquired, by his marriage with Mary 
dutchess of Burgundy, the sovereignty of the Netherlands. 
Maximilian was elected emperor in 1493; and, by establishing 
a perpetual peace between the separate Germanic states, laid 
the foundation of the subsequent grandeur of the empire. 

2. Philip archduke of Austria, son of Maximilian, married 
Jane, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; and of that 
marriage the eldest son was Charles V, who succeeded to the 
throne of Spain in 1516, and, on the death of his grandfather 
Maximilian, preferred his glaim to the vacant imperial throne. 
He had for his competitor Francis I of France, who had dis- 
tinguished himself by the conquest of the Milanese, and the 
adjustment of the contending interests of the Italian states. 
The German electors, afraid of the exorbitant power both of 
Charles and of Francis, would have rejected both, and con- 
ferred the imperial crown on Frederick duke of Saxony; but 
this extraordinary man declined the proffered dignity, and his 
counsel determined the election in favour of Charles of Aus- 
tria, 1519. 

3. Charles V and Francis I were now declared enemies, and 
their mutual claims on each other's dominions were the sub- 
ject, of perpetual hostility. The emperor claimed Artois as 



SECT. 37. MODERN HISTORY. 269 

part of the Netherlands. Francis prepared to make good his 
right to the two Sicilies. Charles had to defend Milan, and 
support his title to Navarre, which had heen wrested from 
Frauce by his grandfather Ferdinand. Henry VIII of Eng- 
land was courted by the rival monarchs, as the weight of 
England was sufficient to turn the scale, where the power of 
each was nearly balanced. 

4. The first hostile attack was made by Francis on the 
kingdom of Navarre, which he won and lost in the course of 
a few months. The emperor attacked Picardy, and his troops 
at the same time drove the French out of the Milanese. On the 
death of Leo X Charles placed cardinal Adrian on the papal 
throne, 1521; and by the promise of elevating Wolsey, the 
minister of Henry VIII to that dignity, on the death of 
Adrian, gained the alliance of the English monarch in his war 
against France. 

5. At this critical time Francis imprudently quarrelled 
with his best general, the constable of Bourbon, who, in re- 
venge, deserted to the emperor, and was by him invested with 
the chief command of his armies. The imperial generals 
were far superior in abilities to their opponents. The French 
were defeated at Biagrassa, and Charles was carrying every 
thing before him in Italy, when Francis entered the Mila- 
nese, and retook the capital; but, in the subsequent battle of 
Pavia, his troops were entirely defeated, and the French mo- 
narch became the constable of Bourbon's prisoner, 1525. 

6. The emperor made no advantage of his good fortune. 
By the treaty of Madrid Francis regained his liberty, on 
yielding to Charles the dutchy of Burgundy, and the superi- 
ority of Flanders and Artois. He gave his two sons as hosta- 
ges for the fulfilment of these conditions; but the states re- 
fused to ratify them, and the failure was compromised for a 
sum of money. 

7. On a renewal of the war, Henry VIII took part with 
France, and Charles lost an opportunity of obtaining the sove- 
reignty of Italy. The papal army in the French interest was 
defeated by the constable of Bourbon, and the pope himself 
made prisoner; but Bourbon was killed in the seige of Koine;, 
and Charles allowed the pope to purchase his release. 



270 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

8. After the conclusion of the peace of Cambray, 1529, 
Charles visited Italy, and received the imperial diadem from 
pope Clement VII. The Turks having invaded Hungary, the 
emperor marched against them in person, and compelled the 
Sultan Solyman, with an army of 300000 men, to evacuate the 
country. He soon after embarked for Africa, to replace the 
dethroned Muley Hassan in the sovereignty of Tunis and Al- 
giers, which had been usurped by Hayradin Barbarossa; and 
he achieved the enterprise with honour. His reputation at 
this period exceeded that of all the sovereigns of Europe, for 
political ability, real power, and the extent and opulence of 
his dominions. 

9. Francis was glad to ally himself even with the Turks to 
cope with the imperialists, and Barbarossa invaded Italy; but 
the troops of Charles prevented the co-operation of the French, 
and separately defeated and dispersed the allied powers, while 
another army of the imperialists ravaged Champagne and 
Picardy. 

10. In the interval of a truce, which was concluded be- 
tween the rival mouarchs, at Nice for ten years, Charles pas- 
sed through France to the Netherlands, and was entertained 
by Francis with the most magnificent hospitality. He had 
promised to grant to the French king his favourite desire, 
the investiture of Milan; but failing to keep his word, the war 
was renewed with double animosity. The French and Turk- 
ish fleets attacked Nice, but were dispersed by the Genoese 
admiral, Andrea Doria. In Italy the French were victorious 
in the battle of Cerizoles, but drew no benefit from this par- 
tial advantage. The imperialists, on the whole, had a de- 
cided superiority, and France must have been undone, if the 
disorders of Germany, from the contending interests of the 
catholics and protestants, had not forced the emperor to con- 
clude the treaty of Crepi with Francis, 1544. At the same 
time Francis purchased a peace with Henry VIII, who had 
again taken part with his rival. Francis died soon after, in 
1547; a prince of great spirit and abilities, and of a generous 
and noble mind; unfortunate only from the necessity of strug- 
gling against a power which overmatched him both in policy 
and in resources. 



SECT. 37. MODERN HISTORY. 27 ^ 

11. A short time before this period was founded the order 
of the Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, 1535. The principle of the 
order was implicit obedience and submission to 'the pope. The 
brethren were not confined to their cloisters, but allowed to 
mix with the world,- and thus, by gaining the confidence of 
princes and statesmen, they were enabled to direct the policy 
of nations to the great end of establishing the supreme au- 
thority of the holy see. The wealth which they accumulated, 
the extent of their power, and the supposed consequences of 
their intrigues to the peace of nations, excited at length a ge- 
neral hostility to their order; and the institution has been re- 
cently abolished in all the kingdoms of Europe. 

12. If Charles V aimed at universal empire, he was ever 
at a distance from the object of his wishes. The formidable 
confederacy of the protestants to preserve their liberties and 
their religion, gave him perpetual disquiet in Germany. He 
never could form his dominions into a well-connected body, 
from the separate national interests of the Spaniards, Flemish, 
and Germans; and even the imperial states were divided by 
their jealousies, political and religious. The hostilities of 
foreign powers gave him continual annoyance. He found in 
Henry II, the successor of Francis, an antagonist as formida- 
ble as his father. His cares and difficulties increased as he 
advanced in life, and at length entirely broke the vigour of 
his mind. In a state of melancholy despondency he retired 
from the world at the age of fifty-six, resigning first the king- 
dom of Spain to his son Philip II, 1556, and afterward the 
imperial crown in favour of his brother Ferdinand, who was 
elected emperor on the 24th day of February, 1558. 

SECTION XXXVIII. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN 

EMPIRE. 

1. Previously to the reign of Maximilian I the Germanic 
empire was subject to all the disorders of the feudal govern- 
ments. The general diets of the states were tumultuous and 
indecisive, and their constant wars with one another kept the 



272 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

whole in anarchy and barbarism. Wenceslaus, in 1388. en- 
deavoured to remedy those evils by the enactment of a general 
peace; but no effectual measures were taken for securing it. 
Albert II attempted to accomplish the same end, and had 
some success. He divided Germany into six circles, each re- 
gulated by its own diet; but the jealousies of the states prompt- 
ed them constantly to hostilities, which there was no superior 
power sufficient to restrain. 

2. At length Maximilian I procured, in 1500, that solemn 
enactment which established a perpetual peace among the 
Germanic states, under the cogent penalty of the aggressor 
being treated as a common enemy. He established the impe- 
rial chamber for the settlement of all differences. The em- 
pire was divided anew into ten circles, each circle sending its 
representatives to the imperial chamber, and bound to enforce 
the public laws through its own territory. A regency was 
appointed to subsist in the intervals of the diet, composed of 
twenty members, over whom the emperor presided. 

3. Those regulations, however wise, would probably have 
failed of their end, if the influence of the house of Austria, 
which has for three centuries continued to occupy the impe- 
rial throne, had not enforced obedience to them. The ambi- 
tion and policy of Charles V would have been dangerous to 
the freedom of the German princes, if the new system of pre- 
serving a balance of power in Europe had not made those 
princes find allies and protectors sufficient to traverse the em- 
peror's schemes of absolute dominion. He attained, however, 
an authority far beyond that of any of his predecessors. The 
succeeding emperors imitated his policy; but, as they did not 
possess equal talents, they found yet stronger obstacles to 
their encroachments on the freedom of the states. 

4. The Germanic liberties were settled for the last time 
by the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, which fixed the empe- 
ror's prerogathes and the privileges of the states. The con- 
stitution of the empire is not framed for the ordinary ends of 
government, the prosperity and happiness of the poeple. It 
regards not the rights of the subjects, but only the indepen- 
dence of the several princes; and its sole object is to maintain 
each in the enjoyment of his sovereignty, and prevent usur- 



SECT. S3. M6DERN HISTORY. 273 

pations,and encroachments on one another's territories. It has 
no relation to the particular government of the states, each 
of which has its own laws and constitution, some more free, 
and others more despotic. 

5. The general diet has the power of enacting the public 
laws of the empire. It consists of three colleges, the electors, 
the princes, and the free cities. All such public laws, and all 
general measures, are the subject of the separate deliberation 
of the electoral college and that of the princes. When joint- 
ly approved by them the resolution is canvassed by the col- 
lege of the free cities, and, if agreed to, becomes a placitum 
of the empire. If approved finally by the emperor it is a con- 
clusum, or general law. If disapproved, the resolution is of 
no effect. Moreover, the emperor must be the proposer of 
all general laws. Still farther, no complaint or request can 
be made by any of the princes to the diet without the approba- 
tion of the elector archbishop of Mentz, who may refuse it 
at his pleasure. Those constitutional defects are the more 
hurtful in, their consequences from the separate and often 
contending interests of the princes, who have all the rights of 
sovereignty, the power of contracting foreign alliances, and 
are frequently possessed of foreign dominions of far greater 
value than their imperial territories. 

6. The Germanic constitution has, however, in some re- 
spects, its advantages. The particular diets of each circle 
tend to unite those princes in all matters of national concern, 
whatever may be the discordance of their individual interests. 
The regulations made in those diets compensate the want of 
a general legislative power. Beside the circular diets, the 
electors, the princes, the free cities, the catholics, and the 
protestants, hold their particular diets, when their common 
interests require it; and these powers balance one another. 
Considered, therefore, solely in the light of a league of seve- 
ral independent princes and states associating for their com- 
mon benefit, the Germanic constitution has many advantages; 
in promoting general harmony, securing the rights of its 
members, and preventing the weak from being oppressed by 
(he strong. 



274 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

SECTION XXXIX. 

OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND, 
AND THE REVOLUTION IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN. 

1. The age of Charles V is the era of the reformation of 
religion, of the discovery of the new world, and of the high- 
est splendour of the fine arts in Italy and the south of Europe. 
We shall treat in order of each of these great objects; and, 
first, of the reformation. 

The voluptuous taste and the splendid projectsof pope Leo 
X demanding large supplies of money, he instituted through 
all the christian kingdoms a sale of indulgences, or remittan- 
ces from the pains of purgatory. This traffic being abused 
to the most shocking purposes, Martin Luther, an Augustine 
friar, ventured to preach against it, and to inveigh with acri- 
mony against the power which authorized it. He found many 
willing hearers, particularly in the electorate of Saxony, of 
which the prince Frederick was his friend and protector. 
Leo X condemned his tenets by a papal bull, which only in- 
creased the zeal and indignation of the preacher. In a book 
which he published, entitled the Babylonish Captivity, he ap- 
plied all the scriptural attributes of the whore of Babylon to 
the papal hierarchy, and attacked with equal force and viru- 
jence the doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, the celi- 
bacy of the priests, and the refusal of wine to the people in 
the communion. The book being condemned to the flames, 
Luther burned the pope's bull and the decretals at Wittem- 
berg, 1520. 

2. One of the first champions, who took up the pen against 
Luther, was Henry VIII of England, whose book, presented to 
pope Leo, procured him the title, now annexed to his crown, of 
defender of the faith. The rest of Europe seemed to pay little 
attention to those rising controversies. Charles V, studious of 
the friendship of the pope, took part against Luther, and sum- 
moned him to answer for his doctrines in the diet of Worms. 
The reformer defended himself with great spirit, and, aided by 



SECT. 39. MODERN HISTORY. 275 

his friend the elector, made a safe escape into Saxony, where 
the mass was now universally abolished, the images destroyed, 
and the convents shut up. The friars and nuns returned to 
the world, and Luther took a nun for his wife. Nor did 
these secularized priests abuse their new freedom, for their 
manners were decent, and their life exemplary. 

3. Erasmus has justly censured the impolicy of the catho- 
lic clergy in their modes of resisting and suppressing the 
new doctrines. They allowed them to be discussed in ser- 
mons before the people, and employed for that purpose furi- 
ous and bigoted declaimers, who only increased and widened 
differences. They would not yield in the most insignificant 
trifle, nor acknowledge a single fault; and they persecuted 
with the utmost cruelty all whose opinions were not agreea- 
ble to their own standard of faith. How wise is the council 
of lord Bacon! "There is no better way to stop the rise of new 
sects and schisms, than to reform abuses, compound the ies- 
ser differences, proceed mildly from the first, refrain from 
sanguinary persecutions, and rather to soften and win the 
principal leaders, by gracing and advancing them than to en- 
rage them by violence and bitterness." Bac. Mor. Ess. Sect. 
1. Ess. 12. 

•&. Switzerland followed in the path of reformation. Zuin- 
glius of Zurich preached the new tenets with such zeal and 
effect, that the whole canton was converted, and the senate 
publicly abolished the mass, and purified the churches. Berne 
took the same measures with greater solemnity, after a dis- 
cussion in the senate which lasted two months. Basle imita- 
ted the same example. Other cantons armed in defence of 
their faith; and in a desperate engagement, in which the pro- 
testants were defeated, Zuinglius was slain, 1531. 

5. Lutheranism was now making its progress toward the 
north of Europe. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, were at 
this time governed by Christiern II, the Nero of the north. 
The Swedes, reluctantly submitting to the yoke, were kept in 
awe by Troll, archbishop of Upsal, a faithful minister of the 
tyrant in all his schemes of oppression and cruelty. On in- 
telligence of a revolt, the king and his primate, armed with 

a bull from pope Leo X, massacred the whole body of the n© 

Mm 



276 MODERN HISTORY. PART H. 

bles and senators, amidst the festivity of a banquet. Gusta- 
vus Vasa, grand nephew of Charles Canutson, formerly king 
of Sweden, escaped from this earnage, and coneealed himself 
in the mines of Dalecarlia. By degrees assembling a small 
army, he defeated the generals of Christiern, whose cruelties 
at length determined the united nations to vindicate their 
rights, by a solemn sentence of deposition. The tyrant fled 
to Flanders, and Frederick duke of Holstein was elected so- 
vereign of the three kingdoms,- but Sweden, adhering to her 
heroic deliverer, and the heir of her ancient kings, acknow- 
ledged alone the sovereignty of Gustavus Vasa, 1521. The 
bull of Leo X, and its bloody consequences, were sufficient 
to convert Sweden and Denmark to the tenets of the reform- 
ed religion. Gustavus enjoyed his sceptre many years in 
peace, and contributed greatly to the happiness and prospe- 
rity of his kingdom. 

6. As early as 1525 the states of Saxony, Brunswick, Hes- 
se Cassel, and the cities of Strasburgh and Frankfort, had 
embraced the doctrines of the reformation. Luther had now 
a species of spiritual control, which he exercised by means 
of a synod of six reformers. His successful example gave 
rise to reformers of different kinds, whose doctrines were 
less consonant to reason or good policy. Two fanatics of Sax- 
ony, Storck and Muncer, condemned infant baptism, and 
therefore were termed anabaptists. They preached univer- 
sal equality and freedom of religious opinion, but, with singu- 
lar inconsistency, attempted to propagate their doctrines by 
the sword. They were defeated at Mulhausen, and Muncer 
died on a scaffold; but the party seemed to acquire new cou- 
rage. They surprized Minister, expelled the bishop, and 
anointed for their king a taylor named Jack of Leyden, who 
defended the city with the most desperate courage, but fell at 
length with his party under the superior force of regular 
troops. The anabaptists, thus sanguinary in their original 
tenets and practices, have long ago become peaceable and 
harmless subjects. 

7. The united power of the pope and emperor found it im- 
possible to check the progress of the reformation. The diet 
of Spires proposed articles of accommodation between ihe 



SECT. 39, MODERN HISTORY. 277 

Lutherans and Catholics. Fourteen cities of Germany, and 
several of the electors, protested formally against those arti- 
cles; and hence the Lutheran party acquired the name of 
protestants. They presented to the assembly at Augsburg a 
confession of their faith, which is the standard of theprotes- 
tant doctrines. 

8. The virtuous lives and conduct of the protestant leaders, 
compared with those of the higher clergy among the catho- 
lics, formed a contrast very favourable to the progress of the 
reformation. The solemn manner in which the states of 
Switzerland, and particularly Geneva, had proceeded, in calm- 
ly discussing every point of controversy, and yielding only to 
the force of rational conviction, attracted the respect of all 
Europe. John Calvin, a Frenchman, becoming a zealous 
convert to the new doctrines, was the first who gave them a 
systematic form by his Institutions, and enforced their autho- 
rity by the establishment of synods, consistories, and deacons. 
The magistracy of Geneva gave these ordinances the autho- 
rity of law; and they were adopted by six of the Swiss can- 
tons, by the protestants of France, and the presbyterians of 
Scotland and England. The ablest advocates of Calvin will 
find it difficult to vindicate him from the charge of intolerance 
and the spirit of persecution; but these, which are tne vices 
or defects of the individual, attach not in the least to the 
doctrines of the reformation, which are subject to the test of 
reason, and can derive no blemish or dishonour from the men 
who propagated them, or even from the motives which 
might influence some of their earliest supporters. This ob- 
servation applies more particularly to the subjeet of the en- 
suing section. 

See Rett's Elements of General Knowledge, Vol. L 

SECTION XL. 

OF THE REFORMATION 1ST ENGLAND UNDER HENRY VIII, 
AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

1. "WicklifF, in the middle of the fourteenth century, by an 
attack on the doctrines of transubstantiation, indulgences, and 



278 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

auricular confession, and still more by a translation of the 
scriptures into the vernacular tongue, had prepared the minds 
of the people of England for a revolution in religious opi- 
nions; but his professed followers were not numerous. The 
intemperate passions of Henry VIII were the immediate cause 
of the reformation in England. He had been married eigh- 
teen years to Catharine of Spain, aunt of Charles V, by whom 
he had three children, one of them, Mary, afterward queen 
of England; when, falling in love with Anna Bullen, he soli- 
cited Clement VII for a divorce from Catharine, on the score 
of her former marriage to his elder brother Arthur. The 
pope found himself in the ( painful dilemma of either affront- 
ing the emperor, or mortally offending the king of England. 
In hope that the king's passion might cool, he protracted the 
time by preliminaries and negotiations, but to no purpose. 
Henry was resolutely bent on accomplishing his wishes. The 
Sorbonne and other French universities gave an opinion in his 
favour. Armed with this sanction, he caused Cranmer arch- 
bishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage. The repudiated 
queen gave place to Anna Bullen. On this occasion Wolsey, 
the minister of Henry, lost the favour of his master, by op- 
posing, as was believed, his darling measure. 

2. Clement VII, from this specimen of the wayward temper 
of Henry, resolved to keep well with the emperor, and issued 
his bull, condemnatory of the sentence of the archbishop of 
Canterbury. Henry immediately proclaimed himself head of 
the church of England; the parliament ratified his title, and 
the pope's authority was instantly suppressed in all his domi- 
nions, 1534. He proceeded to abolish the monasteries, and 
confiscate their treasures and revenues, electing out of the 
latter six new bishoprics and a college. The immoralities of 
the mouks were sedulously exposed, the forgery of relics, 
false miracles, &c. held up to the popular scorn. 

3. Yet Henry, though a reformer, and pope in his own king- 
dom, had not renounced the religion of Rome: he was equally 
an enemy to the tenets of Luther and Calvin as to the pope's 
jurisdiction in England. Inconstant in his affections, and a 
stranger to all humanity, he removed Anna Bullen from the 
throne to the scaffold, to gratify a new passion for Jane Seymour, 



SECT. 40. MODERN HISTORY. 279 

a maid of honour, who happily died about a year after. To her 
succeeded Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced in nine months, 
to make way for Catharine Howard. She underwent the same 
fate with Anna Bullen, on a similar suspicion of infidelity to his 
bed. His sixth wife, Catharine Parr, with difficulty retained 
her hazardous elevation, but had the good fortune to survive 
the tyrant. 

4. On the death of Henry VIII, 1547, and the accesion of his 
son Edward VI, the protestant religion prevailed in England, 
and was favoured by the sovereign} but he died at the early age 
of fifteen, 1553} and the sceptre passed to the hands of his sis- 
ter Mary, an intolerant catholic, and most cruel persecutor 
of the protestants. In her reign, which was of five years' du- 
ration, above 800 miserable victims were burnt at a stake, 
martyrs to their religious opinions. Mary inherited a conge- 
nial spirit with her husband, Philip II of Spain, whose intole- 
rance cost him the loss of a third part of his dominions. 

5. Mary was succeeded in 1558 by her sister Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Anna Bullen, a protestant, the more zealous 
from an abhorrence of the character of her predecessor. In 
her reign the religion of England became stationary. The 
hierarchy was established in its present form, by archbishops, 
bishops, priests, and deacons, the king being by law the head 
of the church. The liturgy had been settled in the reign of 
Edward VI. The canons are agreeable chiefly to the Luthe- 
ran tenets. 

Of the reformation in Scotland we shall afterward treat 
under a separate section. 

SECTION XLI. 

Or THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA BY THE 
SPANIARDS. 

1. Among those great events which distinguished the age 
of Charles V was the conquest of Mexico by Fernando Cortez, 
and of Peru by the two brothers, Francis and Gouzalo Pizar- 
ro. The discovery of America preceded the first of these 
events about twenty-seven yearsj but the account of it has been 



280 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

postponed, that the whole may be shortly treated in con- 
nexion. 

Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, a man of an enterprising 
spirit, having in vain solicited encouragement from his native 
state, from Portugal, and from England, to attempt discoveries 
in the western ocean? applied to Ferdinand and Isabella of 
Spain. Under the patronage of Isabella, as queen of Castile, 
he was furnished with three small ships, ninety men, and a 
few thousand dueats for the expense of his voyage. After 
thirty three days' sail from the Canaries he discovered San 
Salvador, September, 1492; and soon after the islands of Cuba 
and Hispaniola. He returned to Spain, and brought a few of 
the natives, some presents of gold, and curiosities of the 
country. He was treated by the Spaniards with the highest ho- 
nours, and soon supplied with a suitable armament for the pro- 
secution of his discoveries. In his second voyage he discover- 
ed the Caribbees and Jamaica. In a third voyage he descried 
the continent of America, within ten degrees of the equator, 
toward the isthmus of Panama. The next year the geogra- 
pher Americus followed the track of Columbus, and had the 
undeserved honour of giving his name to this continent. 

2. The inhabitants of America and its islands were a race of 
men quite new to the Europeans. They are of the colour of 
copper. In some quarters, as in Mexico and Peru, the Spa- 
niards are said to have found a flourishing empire, and a peo- 
ple polished, refined, aud luxurious; in others, man was a na- 
ked savage, the member of a wandering tribe, whose sole occu- 
pation was hunting or war. The savages of the continent were 
characterized by their cruelty to their enemies, their contempt 
of death, and their generous affection for their friends. The in- 
habitants of the islands were a milder raee, of gentler man- 
ners, and less hardy conformation of body and mind. The lar- 
ger animals, as the horse, the cow, were unknown in America. 

3. Those newly-discovered countries were believed to con- 
tain inexhaustible treasures. The Spaniards, under the pre- 
tence of religion and policy, treated, the inhabitants with the 
most shocking inhumanity. The rack, the scourge, the faggot, 
were employed to convert them to Christianity. They were 
hunted like wild beasts, or burnt alive in their thickets and 



SECT. 41. MODERN HISTORY. ' 281 

fastnesses. Hispaniola, containing three millions of inhabi- 
tants (or probably not halt that number) and Cuba, contain- 
ing above 600000, were absolutely depopulated in a few years. 
It was now resolved to explore the continent; and Ferdinando 
Cortez, with eleven ships and 617 men, sailed for that purpose 
from Cuba in 1519. Landing at Tabasco, he advanced, 
though with a brave opposition from the natives, into the inte- 
rior of the country. The state of Tlascala, after ineffectual 
resistance, became the ally of the Spaniards. On the approach 
of the Spaniards to Mexico, the terror of their name had pa- 
ved the way for an easy conquest. 

4. The Mexican empire, though founded little more than a 
century before this period, had arisen to great splendour in 
comparison of other nations of North America. Its sovereign, 
Montezuma, received the invaders with the reverence due to 
superior beings. But a short acquaintance opened the eyes of 
the Mexicans. Finding nothing in the Spaniards beyond 
what was human, they were daring enough to attack and put 
to death a few of them. The intrepid Cortez immediately 
marched to the palace with fifty men, and putting the empe- 
ror in irons, carried him off prisoner to his camp; where he 
afterward persuaded him to acknowledge himself a vassal of 
the king of Castile, to hold his crown of the king as his supe- 
rior, and to subject his dominions to the payment of an annu- 
al tribute. 

5. Velasquez, governor of Cuba, jealous of Cortez, attempt- 
ed to supersede him, by despatching a superior army to the 
continent; but Cortez defeated his troops, and compelled 
them to join his own banners. The Mexicans attacked the Spa- 
niards for the rescue of their sovereign, Montezuma, who, ha- 
ving offered to meditate between them and their enemies, was 
indignantly put to death by one of his own subjects. The whole 
empire, under its new sovereign, Guatimozin, was now armed 
against the Spaniards; and while the plains were covered with 
their archers and spearmen, the lake of Mexico was filled with 
armed canoes. To oppose the latter the Spaniards built a few 
vessels under the walls of their city, and soon evinced their 
superiority to their feeble foe on both elements. The monareh 
was taken prisoner by the officers of Cortez, and was stretch- 



282 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

ed naked on burning coals, because he refused to discover his 
treasures. Soon after a conspiracy against the Spaniards was 
discovered, and the wretched Guatimozin, with all the princes 
of his blood, were executed on a gibbet. This was the last 
blow to the power of the Mexicans; and Cortez was now abso- 
lute master of the whole empire, 1525. 

6. In the year 15S1 Diego D'Almagro and Francis Pizarro, 
with 250 foot, 60 horse, and 12 small pieces of cannon, landed 
in Peru, a large and flourishing empire, governed by an ancient 
race of monarchs named Incas. The Inca Atabalipa receiving 
the Spaniards with reverence, they immediately required him 
to embrace the christian faith, and surrender all his dominions 
to the emperor Charles V, who had obtained a gift of them 
from the pope. The proposal being misunderstood, or recei- 
ved with hesitation, Pizarro seized the monarch as his prison- 
er, while his troops massacred 5000 of the Peruvians on the 
spot. The empire was now plundered of prodigious treasures in 
gold and precious stones; and Atabalipa, being suspected of 
concealing a part from his insatiate invaders, was solemnly 
tried as a crimnal, and strangled at a stake. 

7. The courage of the Spaniards surpassed even their inhu- 
manity. D'Almagro marched 500 leagues, to Cusco, through 
continual opposition, and penetrated across the Cordilleras in- 
to Chili, two degrees beyond the southern tropic. He was 
slain in a civil war between him and his associate Francis 
Pizarro, who was soon after assassinated by the party of his ri- 
val, A few years after the Spaniards discovered the inexhaus- 
tible silver mines of Potosi, which they compelled the Peru- 
vians to work for their advantage. They are now wrought by 
the negroes of Afriea. The native Peruvians, who are a 
weakly race of men, were soon almost exterminated by cruelty 
and intolerable labour. The humane bishop of Chiapa remon- 
strated with success to Charles Y on this subject; and the re- 
ridue of this miserable people have been since treated with 
more indulgence. 

8. The Spanish acquisitions in America belong to the crown, 
and not to the state: they are the absolute property of the so- 
vereign, and regulated solely by his will. They consist of three 
provinces, Mexico, Peru, and Terra Firmaj and are governed 



SECT. 42. MODERN HISTORY. 283 

l)y three viceroys, who exercise supreme civil and military 
authority over their respective provinces. There are eleven 
courts of audience for the administration of justice, with 
whose judicial proceedings the viceroys cannot interfere; and 
their judgments are subject to appeal to the royal council of 
the Indies, whose jurisdiction extends to every department, 
ecclesiastical, civil, military, and commercial. A tribunal in 
Spain, called Casa de la Contratacion, regulates the departure 
of the fleets, and their destination and equipment, under the 
control of the council of the Indies. 

9. The gold and silver of Spanish America, though the ex- 
clusive property of the crown of Spain, has, by means of wars, 
marriages of princes, and extension of commerce, come into 
general circulation, and has greatly increased the quantity of 
specie, and diminished the value of money over all Europe. 

SECTION XLII. 

POSSESSIONS OE THE OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS IN 
AMERICA. THE UNITED STATES. 

i. The example of the Spaniards excited a desire in the 
other nations of Europe to participate with them in the riches 
of the new world. The French, in 1557, attempted to form 
a settlement on the coast of Brazil, where the Portuguese had 
already established themselves from the beginning of the cen- 
tury. The colony was divided by faction, and was soon utter- 
ly destroyed by the Portuguese. It is one of the richest of 
the American settlements, both from the produce of its soil, 
and its mines of gold and precious stones. 

2. The Spaniards were in possession of Florida when the 
French attempted to colonize it in 156b, without success. 
The French established a settlement in Acadic in 1 604, and 
founded Quebec in Canada in 1608. But these settlements 
were always subject to attack from the English. In 1629 
the French had not a foot of territory in America. Canada 
has been repeatedly taken by the English, and restored, by 
different treaties, to the French; but since the peace of 1763 
it has been a British settlement. The French drew their 

n n 



2S4 MODERN HISTORY. PART II, 

greatest advantages from the islands of St. Domingo, Guada- 
loupe, and Martinico. From their continental possessions of 
Louisiana, and the settlements on the Missisippi, which they 
have now lost, they never derived any solid benefit. 

3. The Dutch have no settlement on the continent of Ame- 
rica, but Surinam, a part of Guiana; and, in the West-Indies, 
the islands of Currassoa and St. Eustatius. The Danes pos- 
sess the inconsiderable islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. 

4. The British have extensive settlements on the continent 
of America, and in the West-India islands. England derived 
her right to her settlements in North America from the first 
discovery of the country by Sebastian Cabot in 1497, the year 
before the discovery of the continent of South America by Co- 
lumbus; but no attempts were made by the English to colonize 
any part of the country till nearly a century afterward. This 
remarkable neglect is in some measure accounted for by the 
frugal maxims of Henry VII, and the unpropitious circum- 
stances of the reigns of Henry VIII, of Edward VI, and of the 
bigoted Mary: reigns peculiarly adverse to the extension of 
industry, trade, and navigation. 

5. In 1585 sir Walter Raleigh undertook to settle a colony 
in Virginia, so named in honour of his queen; but his attempts 
were fruitless. Two colonies, destined for settlement, were 
successively sent over to the Virginian territory; but the first 
was reduced to great distress, and taken back to England by 
sir Francis Drake; the second, left unsupported, could never 
afterward be found. 

6. In 1606 king James granted a patent for settling two 
plantations on the main coasts of North America. Dividing 
that portion of the country, which stretches from the thirty- 
fourth to the forty-fifth degree of latitude, into two districts 
nearly equal, he granted the southern, called the first colony, 
to the London company, and the northern, called the second, 
to the Plymouth company. On the reception of this patent 
several persons of distinction in the English nation undertook 
to settle the southern colony; and in 1607 the first permanent 
colony was settled in Virginia. 

7. The first settlement in the northern district was made 
at Plymouth in 1620. by a number of puritans, who, having a 



♦ 



SECT. 4&.' MODERN HISTORY. 285 

few years before left England to liberate themselves from the 
oppressions of the episcopal hierarchy, had found a temporary 
asylum in Holland. In 1629 the patent of Massachusetts was 
confirmed by king Charles I; and in the following year a large 
body of English nonconformists settled that territory. The set- 
tlement of Connecticut was begun in 1636 by emigrants from 
Massachusetts. The settlement of Providence, in Rhode Isl- 
and, was begun the same year by a clergyman, who, for his 
heresy, and offensive conduct toward the government of Mas- 
sachusetts, had been expelled from that colony. New York, 
originally settled by the Dutch, and by them called New Ne- 
therlands, was taken from them by the English in 1664, at 
which time it was subjected to the British crown, and settled 
by English colonists. New Jersey was settled in 1677, prin- 
cipally by quakers from England. The charter of Pennsyl- 
vania was given in 1681 by king Charles II to William Pennj 
and a settlement was begun the same year by a colony consist- 
ing principally of quakers. The patent of Maryland was giv= 
en by king Charles I, to lord Baltimore in 1632; and two years 
afterward the colony was settled by a body of Roman catholics 
from England. The charter of Carolina was granted by 
Charles II to the earl of Clarendon and several associates in 
1663; and that colony was soon after settled by the English. 
In 1729 the province was divided into two distinct govern- 
ments, one of whieh was called North, and the other S<suth 
Carolina. The charter of Georgia was given in 17S2 by king 
George II to a number of persons in England, who, from mo- 
tives of patriotism and humanity, projected a settlement in 
that wild territory. By this measure it was intended to 
obtain possession of an extensive tract of country; to 
strengthen the province of Carolina; to rescue a great number 
of people in Great Britain and Ireland from the miseries of 
poverty; to open an asylum for persecuted protestants in dif- 
ferent parts of Europe; and to attempt the conversion and ci- 
vilisation of the natives. Under the guidance of general Ogle- 
thorpe a colony was settled here in 1733. Nova Scotia was set- 
tled in the reign of James I. The Floridas were ceded by Spain 
to Great Britain at the peace of 1763; but they were reduced 
by the arms of his catholic majesty during the American war. 



286 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

and guaranteed to the crown of Spain by the definitive treaty 
of 1783. 

8. All the British colonies in North America were subject 
to the government of Great Britain from the time of their set- 
tlement until the year 1775. Opposition to certain measures 
of the British parliament, which the colonies deemed injuri- 
ous to their interest, having induced the government to send 
troops to America to enforce submission to the laws, hostili- 
ties commenced in April, 1775. In 1776 the American con- 
gress declared the United States independent. After various 
defeats and victories during a war of seven years, the colo- 
nists were at length successful in gaining their liberty and in- 
dependence. In September 1783, a definitive treaty of peace 
was concluded, by which his Britannic majesty acknowledged 
the United States of America to be free, sovereign, and inde- 
pendent States. In 1789 the government of those states was 
organized, conformably to the federal constitution; and George 
Washington, who had been commander in chief of the revolu- 
tionary army, was inaugurated the first president. Since the 
establishment of the national or general government the in- 
crease of the commerce, wealth, and population of the United 
States has been great and rapid beyond any former example 
in the annals of history. For some years past however the 
prosperity of this flourishing republic has been checked by 
the discordant policy of the two great contending powers of 
Europe; and the United States are at this time involved in an 
unnatural war with the country of their ancestors, A. D. 1812. 

9. The United States, and the British colonies in America, 
are greatly inferior to the Spanish American coloniesin natural 
riches, as they produce neither silver, nor gold, nor cochineal; 
yet they are in general of fertile soil, and considerably impro- 
ved by industry. They afford a profitable market for Euro- 
pean manufactures. Canada furnishes for exportation wheat, 
flour, flax-seed, lumber, fish,, potash, oil, ginse;,g, furs, pelts, 
and various other commodities. The produce of the West 
India islands belonging to Britain in sugar, coffee, cocoa, 
rum, molasses, cotton, and other articles, is of very great va- 
lue to the mother country. The northern states in the fede- 



SECT. 43. MODERN HISTORY. 287 

ral union furnish masts, ship timber, lumber, potash, furs, 
pelts, fish, beef, pork, butter, cheese, rye, and maize; the 
middle states, flour, maize, flax-seed, peas, deer skins, and 
other pelts; and the southern states, rice, flour, indigo, cotton, 
tobacco, pork, live-oak, tar, pitch, and turpentine. 

For a history of America see Marshall's Life of Washing- 
ton, vol. I; Holmes's American Annals, 2 vols. 8vo. 

SECTION XLIII. 

OF THE STATE OF THE PINE ARTS IN EUROPE IN THE AGE 

OE LEO X. 

1. In enumerating those great objects which characterized 
the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, we remarked the high advancement to which the 
fine arts attained in Europe in the age of Leo X. The 
strong bent which the human mind seems to take, in certain 
periods, to one class of pursuits in preference to all others, as 
in the age of Leo X, to the fine arts of painting, sculpture, 
and architecture, may be partly explained from moral causes^ 
such as the peaceful state of a country, the genius or taste 
and the liberal encouragement of its sovereigns, the general 
emulation that arises where one or two artists are of confes- 
sed eminence, and the aid which men derive from the studies 
and works of one another. These causes have doubtless great 
influence, but do not seem entirely sufficient to account for 
the fact. The operation of such causes must be slow and 
gradual. In the case of the fine arts, the transition from ob- 
scurity to splendour was rapid and instantaneous. From the 
contemptible mediocrity in which they had remained for ages, 
they rose at one step to the highest pitch of excellence. 

2. The arts of painting and sculpture were buried in the 
west under the ruins of the Roman empire. They gradually 
declined in the latter ages, as we may perceive by the series 
of the coins of the lower empire. The Ostrogoths, instead 
of destroying, sought to preserve the monuments of taste and 
genius. They were even the inventors of some of the arts 
dependent on design, as the composition of Mosaie. But, in 



^8S MODERN HISTORY. PART II* 

the middle ages, those arts were at a very low ebb in Europe. 
They began, however, to revive a little about the end of the 
thirteenth century. Cimabue, a Florentine, from the sight 
of the paintings of some Greek artists in one of the churches, 
began to attempt similar performances, and soon excelled his 
models. His scholars were Ghiotto, Gaddi, Tasi, Cavallini, 
and Stephano Fiorentino; and they formed an academy at 
Florence in 1350. 

3. The works of those early painters, with some fidelity of 
imitation, had not a spark of grace or elegance; and such con- 
tinued to be the state of the art till toward the end of the fif- 
teenth century, when it arose at once to the summit of per- 
fection. Raphael painted at first in the hard manner of his 
master Perugino; but soon deserted it, and struck at once into 
the noble, elegant, and graceful: in short, the imitation of the 
antique. This change was the result of genius alone. The 
ancient sculptures were familiar to the early painters, but 
they had looked on them with cold indifference. They were 
now surveyed by other eyes. Michael Angelo, Raphael, and 
Leonardo da Vinci, were animated by the same genius that 
formed the Grecian Appelles, Zeuxis, Glycon, Phidias, and 
Praxiteles. 

4. Nor was Italy alone thus distinguished. Germany, Flan- 
ders, and Switzerland, produced in the same age artists of 
consummate merit. Before the notice of these we shall 
briefly characterize the schools of Italy. 

B. First in order is the school of Florence, of which the 
most eminent master was Michael Angelo, born in 1474. His 
works are characterized by a profound knowledge of the 
anatomy of the human figure, perhaps chiefly formed on the 
contemplation of the ancient sculptures. His paintings ex- 
hibit the grand, the sublime, and terrible; but he drew not 
from the antique its simple grace and beauty. 

6. The Roman school was founded by Raphael d'Urbino, 
born in 148S. This great painter united almost every excel- 
lence of the art. In invention, grace, majestic simplicity, 
forcible expression of the passions, he stands unrivalled, and 
far beyond all competition. He has borrowed liberally, but 
without servility, from the antique. 



SECT. 4.3. MODERN HISTORY. 2S9 

7. Of the school of Loinbardy, or the Venetian, the most 
eminent artists were Titian, Giorgione, Corregio, and Par- 
meggiano. Titian is most eminent in portrait, and in the 
painting of female beauty. Such is the truth of his colouring, 
that his figures are nature itself. It was the testimony of 
Michael Angelo to the merits of Titian, that, if he had stu- 
died at Rome or Florence, amidst the master-pieces of an- 
tiquity, he would have eclipsed all the painters in the world. 
Titian lived to the age of a hundred. Giorgione, with similar 
merits, was cut off in the flower of his youth. Corregio was 
superior in colouring, and in the knowledge of light and shade, 
to all who have preceded or followed him. This knowledge 
was the result of study. In other painters those effects are 
frequently accidental, as we observe that they are not uni- 
form. Parmeggiano imitated the graceful manner of Ra- 
phael, but carried it to a degree of affectation. 

8. Such were the three original Italian schools. The cha- 
racter of the Florentine is grandeur and sublimity, with great 
excellence of design, but a want of grace, of skill in colouring, 
and effect of light and shade. The character of the Roman 
is equal excellence of design, a grandeur tempered with mo- 
deration and simplicity, a high degree of grace and elegance, 
and a superior knowledge, though not an excellence, in co- 
louring. The character of the Venetian is the perfection of 
colouring, and the utmost force of light and shade, with an 
inferiority in every other particular. 

9. To the school of Raphael succeeded the second Roman 
school, or that of the Caraccis, three brothers, of whom An- 
nibal was the most famous. His scholars were, Guercino, 
Albano, Lanfranc, Domenichino, and Guido. Of these emi- 
nent painters the first and last were the best. The elegant 
contours of Guercino, and the strength, sweetness, and ma- 
jesty of Guido, are the admiration of all true judges of painting. 

10. In the same age the Flemish school, though of a quite 
different character, and inferior to the Italian, shone with 
great lustre. Oil painting was invented by the Flemings in 
the fifteenth century; and, in that age, Heemskirk, Frans 
Floris, Quintin Matsys, and the German Albert Durer, were 
deservedly distinguished. Of the Flemish school, Rubens? 



290 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

though a painter of a much later age, is the chief ornament. 
His figures, though too corpulent, are drawn with great truth 
and nature. He possesses inexhaustible invention, and great 
skill in the expression of the passions. Switzerland produced 
Hans Holbein, a painter of great eminence in portrait, and 
remarkable for truth of colouring. From his residence at the 
court of Henry VIII there are more specimens of his works 
in Britain than of any other foreign painter. Holland had 
likewise its painters, whose chief merit was the faithful re- 
presentation of vulgar nature, and perfect knowledge of the 
mechanism of the art, the power of colours, and the effect of 
light and shade. 

11. With the art of painting, sculpture, and architecture 
were likewise revived in the same age, and brought almost to 
perfection. The universal genius of Michael Angelo shone 
equally conspicuous in all the three departments. His statue of 
Bacchus was judged by Raphael to be the work of Phidias or 
Praxiteles. »The Grecian architecture was first revived by 
the Florentines in the fourteenth century; and the cathedral 
of Pisa was constructed partly from the materials of an an- 
cient Greek temple. The art arrived at perfection in the age 
of Leo X, when the church of St. Peter's at Rome, under the 
direction of Bramante, San Gallo, Raphael, and Michael An- 
gelo, exhibited the noblest specimen of architecture in the 
world. 1 

12. The invention of the art of engraving on copper by To- 
maso Finiguerra, a goldsmith of Florence, is dated about 1460. 
From Italy it travelled into Flanders, where it was first prac- 
tised by Martin Schoen of Antwerp. His scholar was the 
celebrated Albert Durer, who engraved excellently both on 
copper and on wood. Etching on copper by means of aqua- 
fortis, which gives more ease than the stroke of the graver, 
was discovered by Parmeggiano, who executed in that man- 
ner his own beautiful designs. No art underwent, in its early 
stages, so rapid an improvement as that of engraving. In the 
course of 150 years from its invention it attained nearly to its 
perfection,- for there has been little proportional improvement 
in the last century, since the days of Audran, Poilly, and 
Edelinck. 



SECT. 44. MODERN HISTORY. 291 

13. The art of engraving in mezzotinto is of much later date 
than the ordinary mode of engraving on copper. It was the in- 
vention of prince Rupert about 1650. It is characterized by a 
softness equal to that of the pencil, and a happy blending of 
light and shade, and is therefore peculiarly adapted to por- 
trait, where those requisites are most essential. 

14. The age of Leo X was likewise an era of very high lite- 
rary splendour; but of the distinguished writers of that peri- 
od we shall afterward treat, in a connected view of the pro- 
gress of literature and the sciences during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries. 

SECTION XLIY. 

OF THE OTTOMAN POWER IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. From the period of the taking of Constantinople, in the 
middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks were a great and 
conquering people. In the sixteenth century Selim I, after he 
had subdued Syria and Mesopotamia, undertook the con- 
quest of Egypt, then governed by the Mamalukes, a race of 
Circassians, who had seized the country in 1250, and put an 
end to the government of the Arabian princes, the posterity 
of Saladin. The conquest of Egypt by Selim made little 
change in the form of its government. It professes to own the 
sovereignty of the Turks, but is in reality governed still by 
the Mamaluke Beys. 

2. Solyman (the Magnificent) son of Selim, Avas, like his 
predecessors, a great conqueror. The island of Rhodes, pos- 
sessed by the knights of St. John, was a darling object of his 
ambition. Those knights had expelled the Saracens from the 
island in 1310. Solyman attacked Rhodes with 140000 men 
and 400 ships. The Rhodian knights, aided by the English, 
Italians, and Spaniards, made a noble defence; but, after a 
siege of many months, were forced to capitulate, and evacu- 
ate the island, 1522. Since that time Rhodes has been the 
property of the Turks. The commercial laws of the ancient 
Rhodians were adopted by the Romans, and at this day are 

o o 



292 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

the foundation of the maritime jurisprudence of all the na- 
tions of Europe. 

3. Solyman subdued the greater part of Hungary, Molda- 
via, and Walachiaj and took from the Persians Georgia and 
Bagdat. His son Selim II took Cyprus from the Venetians 
in 1571. They applied to the pope for aid, who, together 
with Philip II of Spain, entered into a triple alliance against 
the Ottoman power. An armament of 250 ships of war, com- 
manded by Philip's natural brother, Don John of Austria, 
was opposed to 250 Turkish galleys in the gulf of Lepanto, 
near Corinth; and the Turks were defeated, with the loss of 
150 ships and 15000 men, 1571. This great victory was soon 
after followed by the taking of Tunis by the same commander. 

4. But these successes were of little consequence. The 
Ottoman power continued extremely formidable. Under 
Amurath II the Turks made encroachments on Hungary, and 
subdued a part of Persia. Mahomet III, though a barbarian 
in his private character, supported the dignity of the empire, 
and extended its dominions. The Ottoman power declined 
from his time, aud yielded to that of the Persians under Schah- 
Abbas the Great , who wrested from the Turks a large part of 
their late-acquired dominions. 

SECTION XLV. 

STATE OF PERSIA AND OTHER ASIATIC KINGDOMS IN THE 
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 

1. The great empire of Persia, in the end of the fifteenth 
century, underwent a revolution on account of religion. Hay- 
dar or Sophi, a religious enthusiast, established a new seet of 
Mahometans, which held Ali to be the successor of Mahomet 
instead of Omar, and abolished the pilgrimages to Mecca. 
The Persians eagerly embraced a doctrine which distinguish- 
ed them from their enemies the Turks; and Ismael, the son of 
Sophi, following the example of Mahomet, enforced his opi- 
nions by the sword. He subdued all persia and Armenia, and 
left this vast empire to his descendants. 



SECT. 45. MODERN HISTORY. 293 

2. Schah- Abbas, surnamed the Great, was the great-grand- 
son of Ismael Sophi. He ruled his empire with despotic sway, 
but with most able policy. He regained the provinces which 
had been taken by the Turks, and drove the Portuguese from 
their settlement of Ormuz. He rebuilt the fallen cities of 
Persia, and contributed greatly to the introduction of arts and 
civilisation. His son Schah Sesi reigned weakly and unfor- 
tunately. In his time Schah-Gean, the Great Mogul, depriv- 
ed Persia of Candahar; and the Turks took Ba|dat in 1638. 
From that period die Persian monarchy gradually declined. 
lis sovereigns became the most despicable slaves to their own 
ministers; and a revolution in the beginning of the eighteenth 
century put an end to the dynasty of the Sophis, and gave the 
throne to the Afghan princes, a race of Tartars. 

3. The government of Persia is almost as despotic as that 
of Turkey. The sovereign draws a small yearly tax from 
every subject, and receives likewise stated gifts on particular 
occasions. The crown is hereditary^ with the exclusion of 
females; but the sons of a daughter succeed in their course. 
There is no other rank in Persia than that annexed to office, 
which is held during the monarch's pleasure. The national 
religion is the Mahometan, as reformed by Sophi. The sect 
of the Guebres preserve the religion of Zoroaster, as contain- 
ed in the Zendavesta and Sadder, and keep alive the sacred 
fire. (Part I, Sect. XI.) 

4. The poetry of the Persians displays great fancy and lux- 
uriance of imagery. The epic poet Firdousi is said to rival 
the various merits of Homer and Ariosto; and the writings of 
Sadi and Hafez, both in prose and poetry, are admired by all 
who are conversant in oriental literature. 

5. Tartary. From this vast tract of country sprang those 
conquerors who produced all the great revolutions in Asia. 
Tartary is no more than a vast desert, inhabited by wandering 
tribes, who follow the life of the ancient Scythians. The 
Turks, a race of Tartars, overwhelmed the empire of tbe ca- 
liphs. Mahmoud, a Tartar, conquered Persia and great part 
of India in the tenth century. The Tartar Gengiscan subdu- 
ed India, China, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, in the beginning 



294 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

of the thirteen tli century. Batouean, one ofiris sons, ravaged 
to the frontiers of Germany. Tamerlane, the scourge of the 
Turks, and the conqueror of a great part of Asia, was of the 
race of Gcngiscan. Babar, great grandson of Tamerlane, 
subdued all the country between Samarcand and Agra in the 
empire of the Mogul. The descendants of those conquerors 
reign in India, Persia, and China. 

6. Thibet. | The southern part of Tartary, called Thibet, 
exhibits the phenomenon of a kingdom governed by a living 
god, the Dalai Lama, or Great Lama, whose divinity is ac- 
knowledged not only by his own subjects, but over China and 
a part of India. This god is a young man, whom the priests 
educate and train to his function, and in A^hose name they in 
reality govern the kingdom./ 

SECTION XLVI. 

HISTORY OF INDIA. 

1. The earliest accounts of this great tract of civilized 
country are those of Herodotus, who lived about a century 
before Alexander the Great; and it is remarkable that the cha- 
racter given of the people by that early writer, corresponds 
perfectly with that of the modern Hindoos. He had probably 
taken his accounts from Seylax of Cariandria, whom Darius 
Hysiaspes had sent to explore the country. But till the age 
of Alexander the Greeks had no particular knowledge of that 
extraordinary people. Alexander penetrated into the Panjab, 
where his troops refusing to proceed, he embarked on the 
Hydaspes, which runs into the Indus, and thence pursued his 
course for above 1000 miles to the ocean. The narrative gi- 
ven by Arrian of this expedition was taken from the verbal 
accounts of Alexander's officers; and its particulars agree jet 
more remarkably than those of Herodotus with the modern 
manners of the Hindoos. 

2. India was visited by Seleucus, to whose share it fell in 
the partition of Alexander's empire; and Antiochus the Great, 
200 years afterward, made a short expedition thither. It is 






SECT. 46. MODERN HISTORY. 295 

probable too that some small intercourse subsisted between 
the Greek empire of Bactriana and India; but till the fifteenth 
century, no European power thought of forming any esta- 
blishment in that country. From the age of Alexander down 
to the period of the Portuguese discoveries there had con- 
stantly been some commercial intercourse between Europe 
and India, both by sea and across the desert. 

3. The Mahometans, as early as A. D. 1000, had begun to 
establish an empire in India. Mahmoud, a Tartar, conquered 
a great part of the country, and established his capital at 
Ghazna, near the sources of the Indus, extirpating, wherever 
he came, the Hindoo religion, and establishing the Mahome- 
tan in its stead. Mohammed Gori, in 1194, penetrated to 
Benares; and one of his successors fixed the seat of his empire 
at Delhy, which has continued to be the capital of the Mogul 
princes. The sovereignty founded by Mahmoud was over- 
whelmed in 1222 by Gengiscan, as was his empire in the fol- 
lowing century by Tamerlane, whose posterity are at this day 
on the throne of the Mogul empire. 

4. The Mogul empire was, even in the beginning of the 18th 
century, the most powerful and flourishing of all the Asiatic 
monarchies. The emperor Aurengzebe, the son of Shah- 
Gean, though a monster of cruelty, and a most despotic tyrant, 
enjoyed a life prolonged to a hundred years, crowned with un- 
interrupted prosperity and success. He extended his empire 
over the whole peninsula of India within the Ganges. 

5. The dominion'of the Mogul was not absolute overall the 
countries which composed his empire. Tamerlane allowed the 
petty princes, rajahs or nabobs, to retain their territories, of 
which their descendants are at this day in possession. They 
paid a tribute to the Great Mogul, as an acknowledgment of his 
sovereignty, and observed the treaties agreed to by their an- 
cestors; but they were in other respects independent princes. 

6. Bengal became a part of the Mogul's empire by conquest 
in the end of the sixteenth century, and was commonly go- 
verned by a son of the Great Mogul, who had under him seve- 
ral inferior nabobs, the former princes of the country. Such 
was its condition when the British East India company, be- 
tween 1751 and 1760, conquered and obtained possession of 



296 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

that kingdom, together with Bahar and part of Qrissa, a large, 
populous, and most flourishing country, containing ahove ten 
millions of inhabitants, and producing an immense revenue; 
and these territories have since that period.reeeived a conside- 
rable addition. The East India company has the benefit of 
the whole commerce of the Mogul empire, with Arabia, Per- 
sia, and Thibet, as well as with the kingdoms of Azein, Ara- 
can, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, China, and many of the oriental 
islands. 

The fixed establishments of the British in the country of 
Indostan have afforded opportunity of obtaining much instruc- 
tive knowledge relative to the ancient state of that country, 
of which we shall give a short sketch in the following section. 

SECTION XLVII. 

ANCIENT STATE OF INDIA. MANNERS, LAWS, ARTS, SCIENCES, 
AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS. 

1. The remains of the ancient knowledge of the Hindoos 
have been preserved by a hereditary priesthood, in the San- 
scrit language, long since extinct, and only known to a few of 
the Bramins. The zeal of some learned Europeans has late- 
ly opened that source of information, whence we derive the 
most interesting particulars of this extraordinary people, per- 
haps the first cultivators of the sciences, and the instructors 
of all the nations of antiquity. We shall briefly notice their 
singular division into casts, their civil policy, laws, progress 
in the arts and sciences, and their religion. 

2. The whole body of the people was divided into four or- 
ders or casts. The highest cast, that of the Bramins, was 
devoted to religion and the cultivation of the sciences; to the 
second belonged the preservation of the state; they were its 
sovereigns and its magistrates in peace, and its soldiers in war; 
the third were the husbandmen and merchants; and the fourth 
the artizans, babourers, and servants. These are insepara- 
ble distinctions, and descend from generation to generation. 
Moreover, the individuals of each class follow invariably the 
professions of their forefathers. Every man, from his birth 



SECT. 47. MODERN HISTORY. 297 

knows the function allotted to him, and fulfils with ease and 
satisfaction the duty which he cannot avoid. Hence arises 
that permanence of manners and institutions which so singu- 
larly characterizes this ancient nation. 

3. This classification is an artificial arrangement, which 
could have originated only from the mind of a legislator 
among a polished people, completely obedient to government. 
It is therefore a proof of the highly civilized state of the 
Hindoo nation in the most remote periods of antiquity. 

4. The civil policy of the Hindoos is another proof of their 
ancient civilisation. At the time of Alexander the Great In- 
dia was divided into large and powerful kingdoms, governed 
by sovereigns, whose dominion was not absolute, but control- 
led by the superior authority of the Bramins. A system of 
feudalism has ever prevailed in India. The rights to land 
flow from the sovereign, to whom a certain duty is payable by 
the class of the husbandmen, who transmit their possessions 
to their children under the same tenure. Strabo and Diodo- 
rus remarked three classes of officers among the Indians; one 
class whose department was the regulation of agriculture, 
tanks, highways; another which superintended the police of 
the cities; a third which regulated the military department. 
The same policy prevails at this day under the Hindoo princes. 

5. The jurisprudence of Hindostan is an additional proof of 
great antiquity and civilisation. The Aven-Akbery, and : still 
more the compilation of Hindoo laws from the ancient San- 
scrit records, made by order of Mr. Hastings, contain the ju- 
risprudence of a refined and commercial people, among whom 
law had been a study and profession. 

6. Many monuments exist in India of the advanced state of 
the useful and elegant arts in the remotest periods of anti- 
quity. The ancient pagodas, of vast extent and magnificencei 
whether cut in the solid rock, as in Elephanta and Salsette, 
or in the open air, as at Chillambrum and Seringham, the 
sumptuous residences of the Bramins; and the ancient hill 
fortresses, constructed with prodigious strength and solidity, 
evince a great advancement in the arts. The resort of the 
most polished nations of antiquity to India for cotton cloths, 
fine linen, and works in metal and ivory, proves these manu- 



298 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

factures to have been superior to all known at that time in 
Europee 

7. The late translations from the Sanscrit of several in- 
genious compositions of high antiquity, as the dramatic piece 
Sacontala, the Hitopadesa, a series of moral apologues and 
fables, the Mahabarat, an epic poem, composed above 2000 
years before the Christian era, all concur in proof of a similar 
advancement in literature. We have reason to believe from 
such works as are of a philosophical nature, that there is 
scarcely a tenet of the Greek philosophy which has not been 
antecedently the subject of discussion among the Bramins of 
India. 

S. The numeral cyphers first introduced into Europe by 
the Arabians were, as those authors confess, borrowed from 
the Indians. Above a century ago the French mathemati- 
cians evineed,by the evidence of aSiamese manuscript, contain- 
ing tables for calculating the places of the heavenly bodies, the 
astonishing advancement of this ancient people in the sci- 
ence of astronomy. A set of astronomical tables obtained lately 
from the Bramins by M. Gentil goes back to an era termed 
Calyougham, commencing 3102 years before the birth of 
Christ. These tables are used by the modern Bramins, who 
are quite ignorant of the principles on which they have been 
constructed. M. Bailly has proved that they are the same 
as ithose employed by the moderns, with which the Greeks 
and Chaldeans were utterly unacquainted. 

9. Lastly, from the religious opinions and worship of the 
Hindoos we must draw the same conclusion as from all the 
preceding facts. One uniform system of superstition pervades 
every religion of India, which is supported by the most saga- 
cious policy, and by every thing that can excite the veneration 
•of its votaries. Tlie Bramins, elevated above every class of 
men, and exclusively acquainted with the mysteries of that re- 
ligion, which it is held impious for any other class to attempt 
to penetrate,* the implicit reliance on the authority of these 
Braniins; the ceremonies of their worship, adapted to impress 
the imagination, and to affect the passions^ all concurred to 
fortify this potent superstition, and to give its priests a su- 
preme ascendancy over the minds of the people. But those 



SECT. 48. MODERN" HISTORY. 299 

priests, enlightened as they were, rejected that false theology. 
Their writings demonstrate that they entertained rational and 
elevated conceptions with regard to the Supreme Being and the 
support of the universe. 

10. On the whole, there is a high probability that India 
was the great school from which the most early polished na- 
tions of Europe derived their knowledge of arts, sciences* 
and literature. 

For further information respecting India, see Maurice's 
Indian Antiquities, TennanVs Indian Recreations, and the 
Transactions of the Asiatic Society. 

SECTION XLVIII. 

0E CHINA ANB JAPAN. 

1. As we proceed eastward in the survey of the Asiatic 
continent, the great empire of China next solicits our atten- 
tion. In the end of the tenth century China, Persia, and the 
greater part of India were ruled by the Tartar descendants 
of Gengiscan. The Tartar family of Yven, who conquered 
China, made no change in its laws and system of government, 
which had been permanent from time immemorial. Of this 
family there reigned nine successive monarchs, without any 
attempt by the Chinese to throw off the Tartar yoke. The 
odious and contemptible character of the last of those sover- 
eigns at length excited a rebellion, which, in 1357, drove the 
Tartars from the throne; and the Chinese, for 276 years, obey- 
ed their native princes. The Tartars, taking advantage of an 
insurrection in one of the provinces, invaded China in 1641, 
and made an easy conquest. The emperor shut himself up in 
his palace, and, after putting to death all his family, finished 
the scene by hanging himself. The same Tartars occupy the 
throne of China at this day, and observe the same wise policy 
of maintaining inviolate the Chinese laws, policy, and man- 
ners. Of these we shall give a brief account in the subsequent 
section. 

2. The empire of Japan was discovered by the Portuguese 
about the middle of the 16th century. The open and unsuspi- 



300 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

cious character of this industrious and polished people led 
them to encourage the resort of foreigners to their ports; and 
the Spaniards, alter they had obtained the sovereignty of Por- 
tugal, carried on a most beneficial trade to the coasts of Japan. 
The emperor zealously promoted this intercourse, till the in- 
satiable ambition of the Spaniards gave him alarming convic- 
tion of its danger. Under the pretence of converting the Ja- 
panese from idolatry, a vast number of priests was sent into 
the country; and one half of the people was speedily set at 
mortal variance with the other. It now became necessary to 
prohibit this work of conversion by an imperial edict. How- 
ever, a free trade was allowed till 1637, when a conspiracy of 
the Spaniards for dethroning the emperor and seizing the 
government was discovered. An edict was issued for the ex- 
pulsion of all the Spaniards and Portuguese, who resisted till 
they were overpowered by force of arms. Since that period 
all the European nations have been excluded from the ports of 
Japan. The Dutch only, who had been the discoverers of the 
conspiracy of the Spaniards, are allowed the privilege of land- 
ing on one of the small islands, for the purposes of trade, af- 
ter making oath that they are not of the Portuguese religion. 

SECTION XLIX. 

OF THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. STATE OF THE 

ARTS AND SCIENCES, MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, LAWS. 

1. The antiquity of this vast empire, and the state of its go- 
vernment, laws, manners, and attainments in the arts and sci- 
ences, have furnished an ample field of controversy. Voltaire 
Raynal, and other writers, have given to the Chinese empire 
an immense antiquity, and a character of such high civilisa- 
tion and knowledge of the sciences and arts at a very remote 
period, as to be utterly irreconcilable to the state and pro- 
gress of man as described in the books of Moses. On the other 
hand, it is probable that the desire of invalidating those opi- 
nions has induced other writers of ability to go to an opposite 
extreme; to undervalue this singular people, and to give too 
little weight to any accounts which we have received either of 



SEGT. 49. MODERN HISTORY. 301 

the duration of their empire, of the economy of their govern- 
ment and police, or of their attainments in the arts and scien- 
ces. Amidst this contrariety of sentiments we shall endeavour 
to form such opinion as appears most consonant to the truth. 

2. The panegyrists of the Chinese assert that their empire 
has subsisted above 4000 years, without any material altera- 
tion in its laws, manners, language, or even fashion of dress; 
in evidence of which they appeal to a series of eclipses, mark- 
ing cotemporary events, all accurately calculated, for 2155 
years before the birth of Christ. As it is easy to calculate 
eclipses backward from the present day to any given period 
of time, it is thus possible to give to a history, fictitious from 
beginning to end. its chronology of real eclipses. This proof, 
therefore, amounts to nothing, unless it were likewise proved 
that all those eclipses were actually recorded at the time when 
they happened; but this neither has been nor can be done; for 
it is an allowed fact, that there are no regular historical re- 
cords beyond the third century before the Christian era. The 
present Chinese are utterly ignorant of the motions of the celes- 
tial bodies, and cannot calculate eclipses. The series of eclipses 
mentioned has therefore, in all probability, been calculated by 
some of the Jesuits, to ingratiate themselves with the empe- 
rors, and flatter the national vanity. The Jesuits have presided 
in the tribunal of mathematics for above 200 years. 

o. But if the authentic annals of this empire go back even 
to the third century before Christ, and record at that time a 
high state of civilisation, we must allow that the Chinese are 
an ancient and early polished people, and that they have pos- 
sessed a singular constancy in their government, laws, and 
manners. Sir William Jones, no bigotted encomiast of this peo- 
ple, allows their great antiquity and early civilisation, and, with 
much apparent probability, traces their origin from the Hin- 
doos. He appeals to the ancient Sanscrit records, which mention 
a migration of certain of the military class, termed Chinas, 
from India to the countries east from Bengal. The stationa- 
ry condition of the arts and sciences in China proves that they 
have not originated with that people; and many peculiarities 
of the manners, institutions, and popular religion of the Chi- 
nese, have a near affinity to those of the Hindoos. 



302 MODERN HISTORY. FART II. 

4. The government of China is that of an absolute monar- 
chy. The patriarchal system pervades the whole, and binds 
all the members of this vast empire in the stictest subordina- 
tion. Every father is absolute in his family, and may inflict 
any punishment except death upon his children. The man- 
darin of the district is absolute, with the power of life and 
death over all its members; but a capital sentence cannot be 
inflicted without the emperor's approbation. The emperor's 
power is absolute over all the mandarins, and every subject of 
the empire. To reconcile the people to this despotic autho- 
rity, the sovereign alone is entitled to relieve the wants of the 
poor, and to compensate public calamities, as well as the mis- 
fortunes of individuals. He is therefore regarded as the 
father of his people, and is even adored as a benevolent divinity. 

5. Another circumstance which conciliates the people to 
their government is, that all honours in China are conferred 
according to merit, and that chiefly literary. The civil man- 
darins, who are the magistrates and judges, are appointed to 
office according to their measure of knowledge and mental en- 
dowments. No office or rank is hereditary, but may be aspi- 
red to by the meanest of the people. The penal laws of China 
are remarkably severe; but their execution may be remitted 
by the emperor. The judicial tribunals are regulated by a 
body of written laws of great antiquity, and founded on the 
basis of universal ju»tice and equity. The emperor's opinion 
rarely differs from the sentences of those courts. One tribu- 
nal judges of the qualifications of the mandarins; another regu- 
lates the morals of the people, and the national manners^ a 
third is the tribunal of censors, which reviews the laws, the 
conduct of the magistrates and judges, and even that of the 
emperor himself. These tribunals are filled by an equal num- 
ber of Chinese and Tartars. 

6. It has been observed that the sciences have been stationa- 
ry in this empire for many ages. They are at this day extreme- 
ly low, though far beyond the attainments of a barbarous peo- 
ple. The language of China seems to oppose the prosecution 
of speculative researches. It has no regular inflections, and 
can with difficulty express abstract ideas. We have remarked 
the ignorance of the Chinese in mathematics and astronomy. 



SECT. 49. MODERN HISTORY. 305 

Of physics they have no acquaintance beyond the knowledge 
of apparent facts. They never ascend to principles, nor form 
theories. Their knowledge of medicine is extremely limited, 
and is blended with the most contemptible superstition. Of 
anatomy they know next to nothing; and in surgery they have 
never ventured to amputate a limb, nor to reduce a fracture. 

7. The state of the useful and elegant arts has been equally 
stationary as that of the sciences. Many ages ago they had 
attained a certain point of advancement, which they have 
never exceeded. The Chinese are said to have manufactured 
glass for 2000 years; yet at this day it is inferior in transpa- 
rency to the European, and is not used in their windows. 
They are reported to have known gun-powder from time im- 
memorial; but they never employed it in artillery till they 
were taught by the Europeans. They are said to have invent- 
ed the art of printing in the age of Julius Csesar; yet they 
know not the use of moveable types, and print from blocks of 
wood. When first shown the use of the compass in sailing, 
they affirmed that they were well acquainted with it, but 
found no occasion to employ it. The art of painting in China 
is mere mechanical imitation, without grace, expression, or 
even accuracy of proportions. Of the rules of perspective 
they have not the smallest idea. In sculpture, as in the 
figures of their idols, the Chinese artists seem to delight in 
distortion and deformity. Their music is not regulated by 
any principles of science. They have no semitones; and their 
instruments are imperfect and untunable. The Chinese ar- 
chitecture has variety, lightness, and sometimes elegance; but 
has no grandeur, nor symmetrical beauty. 

8. In some of the arts the Chinese have attained great ex- 
cellence. In China agriculture is carried to the highest pitch 
of improvement. There is not a spot of waste land in the 
whole empire; nor any land which is not highly cultivated. 
The emperor himself is the chief of the husbandmen, and an- 
nually holds the plough with his own hands. From the high 
state of agriculture, and the modes of economizing food, is 
supported the astonishing population of 333 millions, or 260 
inhabitants to every square mile of the empire. The garden- 
ing of the Chinese^ and their admirable embellishment of ru~ 



SO* MODERN HISTORY. PART If. 

ral nature, have of late been the object of imitation in Eu- 
rope, hut with far inferior success. The manufacture of por- 
celain is an original invention of this people; and the Euro- 
peans, though excelling them in the form and ornament of 
the utensils, have never attained the excellence of the material. 

9. The morals of the Chinese have furnished a subject both 
of praise and censure. The books of Confucius are said to 
contain an admirable system of morality. But the principles 
of morals have their foundation in human nature, and must, 
in theory, be every where the same. The moral virtues of a 
people are not to be estimated from the books of their philoso- 
phers. It is probable that the manners of the superior clas- 
ses are in China, as elsewhere, much influenced by education 
and example. The morals of the lower classes are said to be 
extremely loose, and their practices most dishonest. They 
are regulated by no principle but selfish interest,.and restrain- 
ed only by the fear of punishment. Probably however, this 
odious character of the people obtains on the coasts more 
than in the interior of the country. 

10. The religiun of the Chinese is different in the different 
ranks of society. There is no religion of the state. The em- 
peror and the higher mandarins profess the belief of one Su- 
preme Being, Changti, Avhom they worship by prayer and 
thanksgiving, without any mixture of idolatrous practices. 
They respect the Lama of Thibet as the high-priest or pro- 
phet of this religion. A prevalent sect is that of Tao-tse f 
who believe in the power of magic, the agency of spirits, and 
the divination of future events. A third is the sect of Fo, de- 
rived from India, whose priests are the Bonzes, and whose 
fundamental doctrine is, that all things rose out of nothing, 
and must finally return to nothing; that all animals are first to 
undergo a series of transmigrations; and that as man's chief 
happiness is to approach as near as possible to a state of anni- 
hilation in this life, absolute idleness is more laudable than 
occupation of any kind. A variety of hideous idols is wor- 
shipped by this sect. 

11. The Chinese have their sacred books, entitled Kings; as 
the Fking, Chouking, &c; which, among some good moral pre- 
cepts* contain much mystery, childish superstition, and absur- 



SECT. 50. MODERN HISTORY. 305 

dity. These are chiefly resorted to for the divining of future 
events, which seems the ultimatum of research among the 
Chinese philosophers. The observation of the heavenly bo- 
dies is made for that purpose alone. The changes of weather, 
the performance or omission of certain ceremonies, the oc- 
currence of certain events in particular times and places, are 
all believed to have their influence on futurity, and are there- 
fore carefully observed and recorded. The rules by which 
those omens are interpreted are said to have been prescribed 
by the great Confucius, the father of the Chinese philosophy, 
500 years before the Christian era. 

12. We conclude, on the whole, that the Chinese are a very 
remarkable people; that their government, laws, policy, and 
knowledge of the arts and sciences, exhibit unquestionable 
proofs of great antiquity and early civilisation; that the ex- 
traordinary measure of duration assigned to their empire by 
some modern writers rests on no solid proofs; that their go- 
vernment, laws, manners, arts, and scientific attainments, are 
not deserving of that superlative praise which has been be- 
stowed on them. 

See Staunton' 's account of the embassy to China; Barrow's 
Travels in China. 

SECTION L. 

M. BAILLY's THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENCES 
AMONG THE NATIONS OF ASIA. 

1. The striking resemblance in many points of character 
between the Chinese and the ancient Egyptians has led to the 
conjecture, either that they were originally the same people, 
one being a colony of the other, or have had, at some remote 
period, such intercourse, either by conquest or by commerce, 
as to occasion a reciprocal communication of manners and the 
knowledge of arts and sciences. M. de Mairan has remark- 
ed the following points of similarity. The Egyptians and the 
Chinese had the same permanence of manners, and abhorrence 
of innovations; they were alike remarkable for the respect 
entertained by children to their parents; they were equally 
averse to war; they had the same general superficial know- 



306 MODERN HISTORY. PART II. 

ledge of the arts and sciences, without the ability to make 
great attainments; they both, in the most ancient times, used 
hieroglyphics; the Egyptians had a solemn festival, called the 
Feast of the Lights; the Chinese have the Feast of the Lanterns; 
the features of the Chinese are said to resemble the ancient 
Egyptian statues; certain characters engraven on an Egyp- 
tian bust of Isis were found to belong to the Chinese language. 
3. M. Bailly lias taken a wider range of observation, and, 
from a review of the manners, customs, opinions, and attain- 
ments of the Indians, Persians, Chinese, Chaldseans, and 
Egyptians, has discovered many circumstances of similarity 
between all those nations equally remarkable as the forego- 
ing. He has thence formed the singular hypothesis, that the 
knowledge common to all those nations has been derived from 
the same original source, a most ancient and highly cultivated 
people of Asia, of which every trace is now extinct. If we 
find, says he, in the scattered huts of peasants, fragments of 
sculptured columns interspersed, we conclude for certain that 
they are not the work of the rude peasants who reared those 
huts, but that they are the remains of a magnificent building, 
the work of able architects, though we discover no other 
traces of the existence of that building, and cannot ascertain 
its precise situation. 

3. The sciences and arts of the Chinese have been stationa- 
ry for 2000 years. The people seem never to have availed 
themselves of the lights of their ancestors. They are like 
the inhabitants of a country recently discovered by a polished 
people, who have taught them some of their arts, and left 
their instruments among them. The knowledge which they 
possess seems to have been imported, and not of original 
growth, for it has never been progressive. 

4. The Chaldseans were an enlightened people at the com- 
mencement of the Babylonish empire, 2000 years before the 
Christian era. They were astronomers, and understood the 
revolutions of the celestial bodies,* They were probably 

* For a particular account of the knowledge of Astronomy of the Chaldeans, 
see the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, article Astronomy, vol. 2, page 547- The 
history of Astronomy in the beginning of this article is peculiarly interesting 
and instructive. Editor. 



sect. 50. MODERN HISTORY. $Qf 

the remains of this ancient people. The Bramins of India 
believe in the unity of God, and the immortality of the soul j 
but with those sublime tenets they intermix childish absurdi- 
ties. They derived the former from wise instructors ; the 
latter were the effect of their own ignorance. The Sanscrit, 
a copious and elegant language, and the vehicle of all the 
Indian knowledge and philosophy, has been a dead tongue for 
thousands of years, and is intelligible only to a few of the 
Bramins. It was probably the language of that great ancient 
people which flourished in remote ages. 

5. The eoineidenee or similarity of customs concurs to 
establish the belief of an original nation. The custom of li- 
bation was common to the Tartars and Chinese, and to the 
Greeks and Romans. All the Asiatic nations had festivals 
of the nature of the Roman saturnalia. The tradition of the 
deluge is diffused among all those nations. The tradition of 
the giants attacking heaven is equally general. The doctrine 
of the metempsychosis was common to the Egyptians, Greeks* 
Indians, Persians, Tartarians, and Chinese. The religion of 
all those nations is founded on the profound but erroneous 
doctrine of the two principles, a universal soul pervading all 
nature, and inert natter on which it acts. A conformity ia 
a true doctrine is no proof of mutual communication or con- 
cert; but it is ingeniously remarked, that a conformity in a 
false doctrine comes very near to such a proof. 

6. The Egyptians, Chaldeens, Indians, Persians, and Chi- 
nese, all placed their temples fronting the east, to receive the 
first rays of the sun. Hence the worship of the sun has been 
the religion of the ancient people from which these are de- 
scended. All these nations had a cycle, or period of sixty 
years, for regulating their chronology. They all divided the 
circle into 360 degrees ; the zodiac into twelve signs ; and the 
Aveek into seven days. The Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians 
designed the seven days of the week by the names of the 
seven planets ranged in the same order. The long measures 
of the ancient nations had all one common origin. 

7. Those singular coincidences, says M. Bailly, can be ex? 
plained only upon three suppositions : 1, That there was a 
free communication between all those ancient nations ; 3, that 



308 MODERN HISTORY. part ii, 

those circumstances of coincidence are so founded in human 
nature, that the most unconnected nations could not fail to 
hit upon them ; or, 3, that they have been all derived from a 
common source. He rejects the two former suppositions, as 
contrary, in his opinion, to fact, and adopts the last.* 

8. The precise situation of this great ancient people M. 
Bailly does not pretend to fix with certainty ; but offers pro- 
bable reasons for conjecturing that it was about the 49th or 
50th degree of north latitude, in the southern regions of Si- 
beria. Many of the European and Asiatic nations attribute 
their origin to that quarter, which therefore appears to have 
been extremely populous. Nitre, a production from animal 
substances, is more abundant there than in any other region. 
The observations of the rising of the stars, collected by 
Ptolemy, must have been made in a climate where the longest 
day was sixteen hours, which corresponds to the latitude of 
50 degrees. No European nation in that latitude understood 
astronomy in those early ages of the world. The veneration 
of the Indians and Chinese for the Lama of Thibet is a proof 
that the religion of those nations originated in that quarter. 

9. But does that region exhibit any traces of having been 
ever inhabited by a polished people ? K a ,re the theory of M. 
Bailly seems to be least supported by proof. He observes, 
that ancient mines have been discovered in those parts of 
Siberia, which have been wrought to great extent in a period 
beyond all record or tradition ; that ancient sepulchres have 
been found, in which there were ornaments of gold of skilful 
workmanship ; but the facts specified are so few as to war- 
rant uo positive inference. 

10. This theory is an amusing specimen of the author's 
ingenuity ; but it has not the force to draw our assent to his 

* The last supposition receives confirmation from the fragments of astrono- 
mical science which still remain among the Chinese and Indians of Asia ; for 
they possess correct methods of calculation, without any trace of the principles 
on which they arc founded. The rules and facts of the astronomy of the Egyp- 
tians, Chaldeans, Indians, and Chinese, seem to be only the wrecks of a great 
system of astronomy, which had been long cultivated by some people or nation 
of remote antiquity. Hence the numerous fragments of that science, which have 
been transmitted through a very long succession of ages to the present inhabi- 
tants of Persia, China, and Hindustan. Editor. 



sect. 51. MODERN HISTORY. 30 g 

conclusions. We have noticed it, as specifying many curious 
facts relative to the manners and attainments of the ancient 
nations, and as furnishing strong evidence of the common 
origin of mankind. The nations above mentioned, though 
many of them remote from one another, were all connected* 
as links of a chain, by proximity; whence it is easy to con- 
ceive that knowledge should diverge from a centre to a very 
distant circumference. M. Bailly has given no reasonable 
ground for fixing that centre in the position which he has 
assigned to it. 



SECTION LI. 

REIGN OP PHILIP II OP SPAIN. REVOLUTION OF THE NE- 
THERLANDS, AND ESTABLISHMENT OP THE REPUBLIC OP 
HOLLAND. 

1. After a short survey of the Asiatic kingdoms, we return 
to the history of Europe in the sixteenth century. 

In the time of Philip II, the successor of Charles V, the 
balance of power in Europe was sustained by Spain, France, 
England, and Germany, all at this time highly flourishing 
and respectable, either from the talents of their sovereigns, 
or their internal strength. Elizabeth, Henry IV, and Philip 
II, were all acute and able politicians ; though the policy of 
Philip partook more of selfish craft, and had less of the manly 
and heroic, than that of either of his rival monarchs. Philip 
was at this time sovereign of Spain, the Two Sicilies, Milan, 
and the Netherlands. He had likewise, for a few years, the 
power of England at his command, by his marriage with 
Mary, the elder sister and predecessor of Elizabeth. 

2. Pope Paul IV, jealous of the power of Philip, formed an 
alliance with Henry II of France, to deprive the Spaniards 
of Milan and the Two Sicilies. Philip, with the aid of the 
English, defeated the French at St. Quintin in Picardy, and 
hoped, from this signal victory, to force the allies into a 
peace ; but the duke of Guise recovered the spirits of the 
French, by the taking of Calais from the English, which they 



glO MODERN HISTORY, part ii. 

had now possessed for 200 years. Another great victory, 
however, obtained by Philip near Gravelines, brought on the 
treaty of Oatteau-Cambresis in 1559, by which the French 
surrendered to Spain no less than eighty-nine fortified towns 
|n the Low Countries and in Italy, 

3. Philip, now free from foreign disturbances, began to be 
disquieted on the score of religion. An intolerant bigot by 
nature, he resolved to extirpate every species of heresy from 
his dominions. The Netherlands, an assemblage of separate 
states, were all subject to Philip, under various titles ; and he, 
had conferred the government of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, 
and Utrecht, on William prince of Orange, a count of the 
German empire. The Lutheran and Calvinistic opinions had 
made great progress in those quarters. Philip, determining to 
repress them, established the inquisition with plenary powers, 
created new bishops, and prepared to abrogate the ancient 
laws, and to give the provinces a new political institution. 
Those innovations created alarm and tumult ; and the duke 
of Alva was sent into Flanders to enforce implicit submis- 
sion. 

4. The inquisition began its bloody work, and many of the 
principal nobility of the provinces were its victims. The 
minds of the people were completely alienated, and a chief 
was only wanting to give union to their measures. The 
prince of Orange, who was under sentence of the inquisition, 
found no difficulty to raise an army ; and having easily redu- 
ced some of the most important garrisons, he was proclaimed 
stadtholder of Holland and Zealand in 1570. Eighteen thou- 
sand persons perished by the hands of the executioner in the 
course of the duke of Alva's government, which was of five 
years' duration. His place was supplied by Requesens, a 
man of humanity, but bound to obey his inhuman master, 
who, on the death of Requesens, sent his own brother Don 
John of Austria to endeavour to regain the revolted states ; 
but the attempt was fruitless. The whole seventeen pro- 
vinces had suffered alike from the tyranny of their sovereign ; 
but particular jealousies prevented a general union, and only 
seven of them asserted their independence, by a solemn 
treaty formed at Utrecht, on the 23d of January, 1579 j by 



sect. 52. MODERN HISTORY. 311 

which it was agreed that they should defend their liberties 
as one united republic ; that they should jointly determine in 
matters of peace and war, establish a general legislative 
authority, and maintain a liberty of conscience in matters of 
religion. These seven united provinces are, Guelderland, 
Holland, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Gronin- 
gen. William prince of Orange was declared their chief 
magistrate, general, and admiral, by the title of Stadtholder* 

5. Philip vented his indignation by a proscription of the 
prince of Orange, offering 25000 crowns for his head ; and he 
compassed his revenge ; for this illustrious man was cut off 
by an assassin in 1584. His son Maurice was elected stadt- 
holder in his room, and sustained his important office with 
great courage and ability. With a slender aid from Elizabeth 
of England, who delighted to traverse the plans of Philip, this 
infant commonwealth accomplished and secured its indepen- 
dence, which it has maintained till its subjugation in the pre- 
sent times. 

6. The other ten provinces, whose discontents were ex- 
pressed only by murmur and complaint, were soothed by a 
new charter from Philip, confirming their privileges ; while 
at the same time he took every possible measure to prevent 
any attempt on their part to throw off the yoke, 



SECTION LII. 

OF THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED 
PROVINCES. 

1. The treaty of confederation of the Seven United Pro- 
vinces, framed in 1579, and solemnly renewed in 1583, is de- 
clared to be, by its nature, indissoluble. Each province there- 
by preserved its own laws, magistrates, sovereignty, and inde- 
pendence. They form, however, one body politic, having re- 
nounced the right of making separate alliances or treaties, 
and established a general council, with power of assembling 
the states, and regulating the common affairs of the republic. 
The assembly of the states-general was originally held only 
twice a-year, but became afterward a perpetual council. 



312 MODERN HISTORY. part 11. 

2. In all matters which regard not the general interest of 
the nation, each of the states or provinces is in itself a repub- 
lic, governed by its own laws and magistrates, and possessing 
a supreme legislative authority. The deputies from each of 
the towns form the council of the province, in which is vested 
its separate government; and those deputies are regulated by 
the instructions of their constituents. The votes of the ma- 
jority of deputies decide in the provincial council in all mat- 
ters which regard not the general interest of the nation. 

3. The great council of the states-general always met in 
assembly at the Hague, and is composed of the deptities from 
the seven provinces, of which Holland sends three, Zealand 
and Utrecht two, and the others one ; each deputy being re- 
gulated by the council of his province. A majority of voices is 
here decisive, unless in the great questions of peace, war, and 
alliance, in which unanimity is requisite. The disadvantage 
of this constitution is the delay and difficulty in the execution 
of public measures. All the towns and all the nobles of a 
province must deliberate, and instruct their deputy, before 
the states-general can take the matter under consideration. 
This great defect is partly corrected by the power and influ- 
ence of the stadtholder. 

4. The stadtholder is commander in chief of the sea and 
land forces, and disposes of all the military employments. He 
presides over all the courts of justice, and has the power of 
pardoning crimes. He appoints the magistrates of the towns, 
from a list made by themselves ; receives and names ambas- 
sadors, and is charged with the execution of the laws. He is 
supreme arbiter in all differences between the provinces, ci- 
ties, or other members of the state. 

5. William, the first stadtholder, did not abuse those high 
powers ; nor did his successors, Maurice and Henry-Frede- 
rick. But under William II the states became jealous of an 
exorbitant authority in their chief magistrate, and on his death 
the office was for some time abolished. In that interval the 
republic was almost annihilated by the arms of Lewis XIV; 
and, sensible of their error, they restored the office of stadt- 
holder in the person of William III, who retrieved the for- 
tunes and honour of his country. In gratitude for his, services. 



sect. 53. MODERN HISTORY. $\s 

the dignity was made hereditary in his family, a solecism ia 
the government of a republic. On the death of William with- 
out issue, the office was once more abolished for twenty years, 
when it was again restored, declared hereditary in the family 
of Orange, and descendible even to the issue of a daughter. 
The only restrictions are, that the succeeding prince shall be 
of the protestant religion, and neither king nor elector of the 
German empire. 



SECTION LIIT. 

REIGN OF PHILIP II CONTINUED. 

1. The loss of the Netherlands was in some degree com- 
pensated to Philip II by the acquisition of the kingdom of 
Portugal. Muley Mahomet, king of Fez and Morocco, de- 
throned by his uncle Muley Moluc, solicited the aid of Don 
Sebastian king of Portugal to regain his throne. Sebastian 
landed with an army in Africa, but Avas defeated by the Moors 
and slain ; and the contending Moorish princes perished in 
the same engagement. Sebastian was succeeded by his grand- 
uncle Don Henry, who died after a reign of two years. The 
competitors for the crown were Don Antonio, prior of Crato, 
and Philip II, paternal and maternal uncles of the last 
sovereign. Philip defeated his rival in a decisive engagement 
at sea, and, without further opposition, took possession of the 
throne of Portugal, 1580. 

2.JElizabeth of England had warmly espoused the cause of 
the revolted Netherlands, and her admiral sir Francis Drake 
had taken some of the Spanish settlements in America. To 
avenge those injuries, the invincible armada, of 150 ships of 
war, 27000 men, and 3000 pieces of cannon, was equipped by 
Philip for the invasion of England. The English fleet, of 108 
ships, attacked them in the night, and burnt and destroyed a 
great part of the squadron. A storm, which drove them on 
the rocks and sands of Zealand, completed their discomfiture, 
and only 50 shattered vessels, with 6000 men, returned to 
Spain, 1588. 



31£ MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

3. The restless spirit of Philip II was engaged at the same 
time in the reduction of the Netherlands, the project for the 
invasion of England, and the dismembering of the kingdom 
of France. The last scheme was as ineffectual as the two 
former. It was defeated at once by the conversion of Henry 
IV to the eatholic religion. The policy of Philip had no- 
thing in it great or generous. His restless ambition was fit- 
ted to embroil Europe ; but he had not the judgment to turn 
the distresses which he occasioned to his own advantage. In 
his own kingdoms, as in his domestic life, he was a gloomy 
and inhuman tyrant. Yet, from the variety and magnitude 
of his designs, the power by which they were supported, and 
the splendour of his dominion, the character of Spain was 
high and respectable in the scale of the nations of Europe. 



SECTION L1V. 

STATE OF TRANCE IN THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CEN- 
TURY ; UNDER HENRY II, FRANCIS II, CHARLES IX, HENRY 
III, AND HENRY IV. 

1. The reformed religion had made the greater progress 
in France from the impolitic persecution which it sustained 
from Henry II, the son and successor of Francis I, who, 
though he aided the protestants of Germany in resisting the 
despotism of Charles V, showed no mercy to their brethren 
in his own kingdom. 

2. On the death of Henry II the conspiracy of Amboise 
was planned by the prince of Conde, for the destruction of the 
duke of Guise, who ruled the kingdom under Franeis II, and 
to whose intolerance and cruelty the protestants attributed all 
their calamities. Guise owed his ascendancy chiefly to the 
marriage of his niece, Mary queen of Scots, with the young 
monarch ; and the detection of this conspiracy, the massacre 
of its principal leaders, and the barbarous punishment of all 
who partook in it, while they confirmed his power, served 
only to increase the rancour of the contending parties. 

3. Francis II died, after a reign of one year, 1560, and was 



sect. 54. MODERN HISTORY. 3^ 

1 succeeded by his brother Charles IX, a boy of ten years of age. 
The queen-mother, Catharine de Medicis, who had no other 
principle but the love of power, was equally jealous of the 
influence of the Condes and the Guises. An ecclesiastical 
assembly, held by her desire at Poissy, gave toleration to the 
protestants to exercise their worship through all France, 
without the walls of the towns. The zeal or the imprudence 
of the duke of Guise infringed this ordinance, and both parties 
flew to arms. The admiral Coligni commanded the troops 
of the protestants, who were aided by 10000 Germans from 
the Palatinate. Philip of Spain, to increase the disorders, 
sent an army to the aid of the catholics. 

4*. The horrors of civil war were aggravated by murders 
and assassinations. The duke of Guise was the victim of the 
frantic zeal of an enthusiast. After many desperate engage- 
ments, with various success, a treacherous peace was agreed 
to by the catholics ; and Coligni, with the chiefs of the protes- 
tant party, were invited to court, and received by the queen- 
mother and her son with the most extraordinary marks of 
favour: among the rest Henry of Navarre, to whom the 
young monarch had given his sister in marriage. Such were 
the preparatives to the infernal massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mew. On the night of the 23d of August, 1572, at the ring- 
ing of the matin-bell, the catholics made a general massacre 
of all the protestants throughout the kingdom of France. 
Charles IX, a monster of cruelty, assisted in the murder of 
his own subjects. 

5. Amid those horrors Henry duke of Anjou, brother of 
Charles IX, was elected king of Poland ; but had scarcely 
taken possession of his throne, when he was called to that 
of France by the death of its execrable sovereign, 157 A. The 
weakness of the new monarch, Henry III, was unfit to com- 
pose the disorders of the kingdom. Equally bigotted and 
profligate, he became the scorn of his subjects, and the dupe 
of the contending factions. 

6. The protestant party was now supported by the prince 
of Condc and young Henry of Navarre, descended from Ro- 
bert of Bourbon, a younger son of Lewis IX. The duke of 
Alengon, the king's brother, had likewise joined their party. 

k v 



316 MODERN HISTORY. fart ii, 

The catholics, to accumulate their strength, formed a bond of 
union, termed the league, nominally for defence of the state 
and its religion, but in reality for usurping all the powers of 
government, and suppressing the protestant faith. Of this 
dangerous association Henry III, with the weakest policy, 
declared himself the head, and thus the avowed enemy of one 
half of his subjects. He saw his error when too late, and, 
dreading the designs of the duke of Guise, and his brother 
the cardinal of Lorraine, whose authority had superseded his 
own, he basely rid himself of his fears by procuring their 
assassination. This vicious and contemptible tyrant, after a 
reign of fifteen years, was assassinated by Jacques Clement, 
a jacobin monk, from the frenzy of fanaticism, 1589. 

7. The next heir of the crown was Henry of Navarre, who 
had been educated a protestant by his mother, the daughter 
of Henry d'Albret king of Navarre. At the age of sixteen 
he had been declared head of the party of the huguenots ; 
his uncle the prince of Conde and the admiral Coligni acting 
as his lieutenants. His first military enterprizes were un- 
successful. Invited to Paris, at the peace of 1572, to marry 
the sister of Charles IX, he narrowly escaped from the mas- 
sacre of St. Bartholomew, but remained three years a pri- 
soner. On the death of Charles he again took the field 
against the army of the league, which he defeated in the 
battle of Coutras, 1587, and still more signally in that of 
Arques, 1589. After the death of Henry III he won the 
celebrated battle of Ivry ; and, being acknowledged sovereign 
of France by all but the party of the league, then in posses- 
sion of Paris, he laid siege to the city, which must have 
capitulated, if Philip II had not sent succours. Religion was 
the sole cause of the disunion of France, and the only obsta- 
cle to the acknowledgment of Henry's title by the greater 
part of his subjects. By the earnest persuasion of Rosni 
(duke of Sully), a protestant, Henry was prevailed on to de- 
clare himself a catholic. He abjured at St. Denis, and was 
crowned king at Chartres, 159i. He soon after took posses- 
sion of Paris; but it cost him several years, both of war and 
negotiation, before he gained the whole of his kingdom, ex- 
hausted as it was, and ruined by civil discord. 



sect. 55. MODERN HISTORY- 317 

8. The subsequent life of this excellent prince was devoted 
to the reparation of those misfortunes. After forcing Philip 
II to conclude the advantageous peace of Vervins, 1598, his 
whole attention was bestowed on the improvement of his 
kingdom^ by reforming its laws, regulating its finances, en- 
couraging agriculture and manufactures, enlarging and em- 
bellishing the cities, and finally by successfully reconciling 
the partizans of the contending religions. In all his bene- 
ficial schemes he found an able assistant in his minister the 
duke of Sully, who has beautifully depicted the life and cha- 
racter of his master. In his memoirs we see not only the 
great designs, but the private virtues, the engaging and 
amiable manners of this illustrious man, who, while he was 
the arbiter of the contending powers of Europe, was the 
indulgent father of a happy people. 

9. The period of the splendour and happiness of France 
was of short duration. Henry IV, worthy to be immortal, 
was assassinated at the age of fifty-seven, May 4, 1610, by 
Ravaillac, an insane fanatic. At the time of his death he 
meditated the great project of a perpetual peace between the 
states of Europe, a design highly characteristic of the bene- 
volent mind of its author. But the weaknesses of mankind, 
and the impossibility of reasoning with nations as with wise 
individuals, must certainly have rendered this design abor- 
tive. 



SECTION LV. 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND OF SCOTLAND IN THE REIGNS OF 
ELIZABETH, AND MARY qUEEN OF SCOTS. 

1. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII, by Anna Bulien, 
succeeded to the throne on the death of her sister Mary, 
1558 ,- and England attained a high degree of splendour under 
the rule of this great and politic princess, whose talents ena- 
bled her to pursue the true interests of her people, while her 
vigorous and intrepid mind led her to take an important part 
in maintaining the balance of power in Europe. While she 



518 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

encouraged at home every useful art and manufacture, she 
colonized a great part of North America, supported the in- 
fant republic of Holland against its tyrannical enemy, 
humbled the pride of Spain in the defeat of its invincible 
armada, and assisted Henry IV in the recovery of his king- 
dom. It was her fortune to have the aid of most able minis- 
ters, and her merit to place her confidence in their counsels. 

2. If Elizabeth had been equally endowed with the virtues 
of the heart as with the powers of the mind, she would have 
shone the most illustrious character in the annals of modern 
Europe. Her conduct to her cousin Mary queen of Scots has 
fixed an indelible stain on her character. Mary, the daugh- 
ter of James Y, and great-grand-daughter of Henry VII, 
educated in France, and married, when very young, to the 
dauphin, afterward Francis II, had imprudently assumed the 
arms ai^title of queen of England, by the persuasion of her 
materhafuncles the Guises. The pretence was the illegiti- 
macy of Elizabeth, declared by Henry VIII, on his divorce 
from Anna Bullen. This false step laid the foundation of all 
the miseries of the queen of Scots. 

3. The reformation was at this time going forward in 
Scotland with the most ardent zeal. The earls of Argyle, 
Morion, Glencairn, and others, its chief promoters, had, by 
their own authority, suppressed the worship of the mass over 
a great part of the kingdom. The catholic bishops, by an 
ill judged persecution of the reformers, greatly increased the 
number of their proselytes. They began to muster their 
strength, and, headed by John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, a 
virtuous man, but of the most furious and intemperate zeal, 
threw down the altars and images, expelled the priests, and 
demolished the churches and monasteries. The protectants 
were now acting in arms, and in open defiance of government; 
and the queen-mother, Mary of Guise, attempted, by the aid 
of French troops, to reduce her subjects to submission. 
They applied for aid to Elizabeth the protestant queen of 
England, who sent an army and a fleet to their assistance. 
The death of the queen-mother was followed by a capitula- 
tion, by which it was agreed that the French should evacuate 
Scotland, and that Mary should renounce all pretension to the 



sect. 55, MODERN HISTORY. gig 

crown of England. The protestant religion, under presby- 
terian forms, was now established in the room of the 
catholic. 

i. In this situation of Scotland, Mary, at the age of eigh- 
teen, on the death of her mother, and of her husband Fran- 
cis II, returned to her hereditary kingdom ; having fortunate- 
ly escaped an English ileet which Elizabeth had dispatched 
to take her prisoner on her passage. Mer misfortunes began 
from that hour. Her protestant subjects regarded their ca- 
tholic queen with abhorrence, and looked up to her enemy 
Elizabeth as their support and defender. That artful princess 
had secured to her interest the very men on whom the unsus- 
pecting Mary placed her utmost confidence, her bastard bro- 
ther the earl of Murray, the earl of Morton, and secretary Le- 
thington^ The views of Murray aimed at nothing less than 
his sister's crown, and the obstacles which opposed his crimi- 
nal ambition served only to render his attempts more daring 
and flagitious. 

5. The marriage of Mary with her cousin lord Darnley, 
son of the earl of Lennox, who stood in the same relation to 
Elizabeth, was not agreeable to that princess. Encouraged 
by Elizabeth's ministers, Randolph and Cecil, Murray formed 
a conspiracy to seize and imprison Mary, to put to death her 
husband, and usurp the government ; and on the detection of 
his designs, attempted to support them by open rebellion. De- 
feated, exiled, pardoned, and loaded with benefits by his inju- 
red sovereign, he persevered in the same atrocious purposes, 
till he at length accomplished them. 

6. The spouse of Mary had incurred her resentment by his 
vices and follies. Taking advantage of the weakness of his 
mind, Murray, Morton, and Lethington, had rendered him 
jealous of the partiality of Mary for her foreign secretary, the 
aged Rizzio, and engaged him in the barbarous act of murder- 
ing this ill-fated wretch at the feet of the queen, to whose 
garments he clung for protection. The purpose of this shock- 
ing outrage was, to procure the abortion of Mary, then big 
with child, and possibly her death; or, if she should survive, 
to alienate completely her affections from her husband, and 
thus to render her suspected of the design which they had 






520 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

projected of cutting him off by assassination. In the latter 
purpose they succeeded. The house which Darnly inhabited 
was blown up by gunpowder : his body was found strangled 
near the place, and a report immediately prevailed, that Ma- 
ry had been accessory to his murder. 

7. A most imprudent step, to whicli she was conducted by 
the same band of traitors, gave countenance to this suspicion. 
At the earnest recommendation of Morton and some of her 
chief nobility, she married the earl of Bothwell, a man openly 
stigmatized as one of the murderers of her husband. He had, 
it is true, been absolved on trial for that crime, and had by 
force made himself master of her person. The plans of Mur- 
ray and his associates, successful to the utmost of their wish- 
es, were now ripe for consummation. On the pretext of the 
queen's guilt of murder and adultery, she was confined by 
Murray in the castle of Lochleven, and there compelled to 
resign her crown into the hands of her unnatural brother, who 
was to govern the kingdom as regent during the minority of 
her infant son, now proclaimed king by the title of James VI, 
1567. Bothwell escaped beyond sea, and died in Denmark. 

8. A great part of the nation reprobated those infamous 
proceedings. Mary escaped from her confinement, and at the 
head of an army gave battle to the rebels at Langside ; but, 
being defeated, she fled for shelter to the north of England. 
Elizabeth, who had secretly encouraged all the machinations 
of her enemies, had now gained a great object of her ambi- 
tion : she had in her hands a hated rival, and, by her support 
of Murray and his party, the absolute command of the king- 
dom of Scotland. Yet policy required some show of friendship 
and humanity to the queen of Scots, who claimed, as a sup- 
pliant, her protection and aid. She professed a desire to do 
her justice, but first required that she should clear herself of 
the crimes alleged against her. To this Mary agreed, with 
the intrepidity of conscious innocence. In a conference held 
for that purpose, Murray openly stood forth as the accuser of 
his sister and queen, appealing to certain letters said to have 
been written by her to Bothwell, plainly intimating her guilt. 
Copies of those letters were produced. Mary demanded the 
originals, boldly declaring them to be the forgeries of her 



sect. 55. MODERN HISTORY. 321 

enemies ; but they were never produced. She retorted on Mur- 
ray and Morton the charge of Darnley's murder ; and the con- 
ference was broken off at the command of the queen of Eng- 
land, who detained Mary in close imprisonment. 

9. The ungenerous policy of Elizabeth was condemned by 
her own subjects. The duke of Norfolk, the first of her 
nobility, and, though a protestant, favoured by the catholic 
party in England, secretly projected to marry the queen of 
Scots. The discovery of his views having given alarm to 
Elizabeth, brought that ill-fated nobleman to the block, and 
hastened the doom of the unfortunate Mary. Worn out with 
the miseries of her confinement, she privately solicited the 
aid of foreign princes for her deliverance. Her cause was 
espoused by all the catholics of England ; and some of the 
most intemperate of these had formed a plot to deliver her 
from captivity, and to place her on the throne, by the mur- 
der of Elizabeth. This dangerous conspiracy was discovered, 
and its authors deservedly suffered death. The schemes of 
Mary for her own deliverance were held presumptive of her 
acquiescence in the whole of the plot. Though an indepen- 
dent sovereign, she was brought to trial before a foreign tri- 
bunal, which had already decreed her fate ; and, being con. 
demned to suffer death, she was beheaded at Fotheringay 
castle, 1587, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and the 
nineteenth of her captivity in England. Previously to this 
event, Murray had fallen the victim of the private revenge 
of a gentleman whom he had injured; Lethington poisoned 
himself in prison, to escape the sentence of his enemies ; and 
Morton, some time regent of the kingdom, was afterward 
tried and suffered death for his concern in the murder of 
Darnley. 

10. We have mentioned the formidable preparations of 
Philip II for the invasion of England, and their disastrous 
issue in the total destruction of the invincible armada. The 
English, in their turn, made descents on the Spanish coasts ; 
and the glory of the nation Avas nobly sustained by those great 
admirals, Raleigh, Howard, Drake, Cavendish, and Hawkins. 
The earl of Essex distinguished himself in those expeditions, 
and won the favour of Elizabeth, both by his prowess and 



323 MODERN HISTORY. part it. 

personal accomplishments, The death of Leicester, her for- 
mer favourite, and of her minister Burleigh, left Essex 
unrivalled in her affections, and of chief authority in the 
direction of her councils. Haughty, and impatient of con- 
troul, he disgusted the nobles ; and his failure in quelling a 
rebellion in Ireland gave them ground to undermine him in 
the favour of his sovereign. In the madness of inordinate 
ambition he proposed to possess himself of the person of the 
queen, and compel her to remove his enemies, and acquiesce 
in all his measures. This treasonable enterprize brought 
him to the scaffold, 1600. 

11. From that time Elizabeth fell into profound melan- 
choly, and soon after died, in the seventieth year of her 
age, 1603, having named for her successor James VI king of 
Scotland. Her talents were great, and the firmness of her 
mind was unequalled ; but her private character was tarnished 
by cruelty, hypocrisy, and an insatiable desire of admiration. 
Her maxims of government were despotic, and she had little 
regard for the liberties of her people, or the privileges of her 
parliaments, to whom she never allowed the Liberty of dis- 
puting her commands. The actual government of England 
in those days was little different from an absolute monarchy, 



SECTION LVI. 

HISTORY OE GREAT BRITAIN IN THE REIGNS OF JAMES I 
AND CHARLES I. 

1. James VI of Scotland succeeded by hereditary right to 
the throne of England, thus uniting the two crowns ; a prince 
of considerable learning and talents, but of little vigour of 
mind or political energy. He became unpopular from his 
notions of an uncontroulable prerogative, to which unwisely 
proclaiming his title, he provoked his subjects to question 
it. The current of public opinion was now strongly turned 
to an extension of the rights of the subject, and to a retrench- 
ment of the powers of the crown; and during this reign the 
seeds were sown of that spirit of resistance on the part of 



sect. 56. MODERN HISTORY. 323 

the people, which was destined in the next to overturn the 
constitution. 

2. Domestic events were such as chiefly distinguished the 
reign of James I. A conspiracy was discovered in 1603 for 
subverting the government, and placing the king's cousin, 
Arabella Stuart, on the throne, in which the lords Cobhani 
and Grey and sir Walter Raleigh were principally concerned. 
The two former were pardoned, and Raleigh was condemned* 
but reprieved. On the ground of his infringement of the 
peace with Spain, by unwarrantably attacking one of her 
American settlements, he was beheaded on his former sen- 
tence, after an interval of fifteen years. 

3. Another conspiracy followed, of a still more dangerous 
nature, the gunpowder treason ,• a plot of the catholics, to 
destroy at one blow the king and the whole body of the par- 
liament, 1604. It was discovered, from a circumstance of 
private friendship, on the very eve of its accomplishment; 
and the principal conspirators suffered capital punishment. 
The public indignation now raged against the catholics; and 
the humanity of James, which sought to mitigate this fury, 
was as ungenerously as absurdly construed into a favour 
which he entertained for their religious principles. 

4. It was a peculiar weakness of the king to attach him- 
self to undeserving favourites. Such was Oarre earl of 
Somerset, who had no other recommendation but a handsome 
person, and who, after several years' exercise of all the inso- 
lence of power, fell into disgrace, on conviction of his concern 
in an infamous murder. His place was supplied by Villiers, 
afterward duke of Buckingham, a man devoid of every talent 
of a minister, and odious to all ranks of the state. He 
planned a journey of Charles prince of Wales into Spain to 
court the Infanta, and by his folly and insolence frustrated 
the treaty on the brink of its conclusion. 

5. Elizabeth, the daughter of James, was married to the 
protestant elector Palatine, who was dispossessed of his elec- 
torate by the emperor Ferdinand II, for imprudently accept- 
ing the crown of Bohemia, till then an appanage of the em- 
pire. James was urged by parliament to a war in defence of 
his son-in-law, which touched the nation both as a point of 

s s 



324 MODERN HISTORY, past ii 

honour and as the cause of the protestant interest. He sent 
a feeble armament, which was of no service ; the only military 
enterprize of his reign. His favourite project was a complete 
union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland; a measure 
which, however beneficial, the mutual prejudices of the two 
nations were as jet too violent to bear. As a preparatory 
step, the episcopal hierarchy was introduced into Scotland; 
but this served only as the incentive of future commotions. 
James I died in 1625, in the 59th year of his age, and the 
22d of his reign over England. 

6. On an impartial estimate of the character of the suc- 
ceeding monarch, Charles I, it may be allowed, that this 
unfortunate prince would have reigned with high popularity, 
if the nation in his reign had entertained the same opinions 
of the regal prerogative, of the powers of parliament, and of 
the liberty of the subject, which had prevailed for the two 
preceding centuries. But it was his lot to mount the throne 
at that critical period when the public opinion had undergone 
an entire revolution on those topics ; and, with many excel- 
lent endowments both of head and heart, he wanted that poli- 
tical prudence which should have taught him to yield to the 
necessity of the times. 

7. Charles was offended with his first parliament on their 
refusal of adequate supplies for the war in support of his 
brother-in-law, the elector Palatine. Engaged to his allies 
the king dissolved the parliament, and issued warrants for 
borrowing money of the subject. A new parliament was found 
equally uncomplying, and evinced its jealousy of the king by 
the impeachment of his minister. Buckingham. Charles 
avenged the insult by imprisoning two members of the house 
of commons. A dissension thus begun was continually aggra- 
vated by new causes of offence. The levying of money from 
the subject was enforced by billeting soldiers on those who 
refused to lend to the crown ; and some were imprisoned for 
their refusal A war was undertaken against France by 
Buckingham's instigation, a sufficient cause of its unpopula- 
rity; and it ended in a fruitless attempt on Roehelle. The 
king again dissolved his parliament, 1626, 



seer. 56. MODERN HISTORY, 525 

A new parliament exhibited a spirit of determined refor- 
mation. A Petition of Bight was passed by both houses, 
which declared the illegality of raising money without their 
sanction, or of enforcing loans from the subject, annulled all 
taxes imposed without the consent of parliament, and abolish- 
ed the exercise of the martial law ; and Charles was obliged, 
with much reluctance, to give his assent to this great re» 
trenchment of prerogatives, sanctioned by the usage of the 
most popular of his predecessors. 

9. The taxes of tonnage and poundage had usually been 
continued from one reign to another. On this ground the 
king conceived that he was warranted to levy them without a 
new grant : and a member of the house of commons was im= 
prisoned on refusal to pay them. This arbitrary measure 
excited an outrageous ferment in that assembly, and the con= 
sequence was, a new dissolution of the parliament, 1629. 

10. It was now a measure of necessity to make peace with 
France and Spain. The king persevered in levying the ton- 
nage, poundage, and ship-money; and high fines were impo- 
sed for various offences, without trial, by authority of the 
star-chamber. The legality of the tax of ship-money was 
disputed by John Hampden, who Avas condemned by the court 
of exchequer, contrary, as was generally thought, to justice 
and the laws of the realm. 

11. Those discontents were increased bv religious enthu- 
siasm. Charles, by the advice of Laud archbishop of Can- 
terbury, had relaxed the penalties against catholics, and 
countenanced some innovations in the ceremonials of church- 
worship, preludes, as they were termed, to the popish idola- 
tries. He had likewise imprudently attempted to introduce 
the liturgy of the church of England among the Scots. Those 
measures excited in Scotland very general discontent, and 
produced the most violent commotions. A bond, termed the 
National Covenant, containing an oath of resistance to all 
religious innovations, was subscribed in Scotland by all ranks 
and conditions; and in a general assembly at Glasgow the 
episcopal hierarchy was solemnly abolished, 1638. To main- 
tain this violent procedure the Scots reformers took up arms^ 
and, after seizing and fortifying the most important plaees of 



326 MODERN HISTORY. p^rt 11. 

strength in the kingdom, boldly marched into the heart of 
England. 

12. It was now absolutely necessary to assemble a parlia- 
ment, and the king at length saw that the torrent was irre- 
sistible, and resolved, though too late, to yield to it. A bill 
passed for abolishing the tonnage and poundage without con- 
sent of parliament, and received the royal assent. Monopo- 
lies of every kind were abolished. A parliament was agreed 
to be summoned every third year. Unsatisfied with these 
concessions, the commons impeached the earl of Strafford, 
the king's first minister, of high treason, together with Laud 
archbishop of Canterbury, who were charged, as the chief 
counsellors of the crown, with a design of subverting the laws 
and constitution of the realm. The fate of Strafford, whose 
trial by his peers would have terminated in his acquittal, was 
secured by a bill of attainder, to which the king was, with 
the greatest reluctance, forced to give his assent. The com- 
mons seized that moment of anguish to obtain his consent to 
a decisive measure, a bill which rendered the parliament 
perpetual, by declaring that it should not be dissolved nor 
adjourned except by its own decree, 1641. Strafford and Laud 
were both beheaded. 

13. This last measure of the commons evinced a determined 
purpose to overturn the constitution. Their proceedings 
hitherto had the show of justice, and most of them might be 
vindicated on the principles of true patriotism. But from 
this period their conduct was treason to their country and its 
government. The last bill destroyed the equal balance of 
the constitution of England, and every subsequent measure 
was a step toward its annihilation. 

14. The Irish catholics took advantage of those disorders, 
and, with the purpose of assuming the entire command of 
Ireland, and shaking off its dependence on England, attempt- 
ed, in one day, to massacre all the protestants in Ireland. To 
extinguish this horrible rebellion Charles consigned to the 
parliament the charge of the war, which they interpreted 
into a transference to them of the whole military powers of 
the crown. Under this authority a great force was levied, 
and supplied with arms from the royal magazines. 



sect. 56. MODERN HISTORY. 327 

15. The bishops having complained that their lives were in 
danger from the populace, and having protested against the 
proceedings of the lords in their absence, were impeached of 
treason by the commons, and committed to the Tower. The 
patience of Charles was exhausted. He caused five of the 
commons to be impeached, and went in person to the house 
to seize them ; a breach of the privilege of parliament, for 
which he found it necessary to atone by a humiliating mes- 
sage. 

16. A new bill of the commons, naming the commanders of 
all the fortified places, who should be responsible to parlia- 
ment alone, was understood to be a declaration of war. The 
next step was to assume the whole legislative power, by de- 
claring it a breach of privilege to dispute the law of the land 
promulged by the lords and commons. But the lords were 
merely a name, being entirely under the controul of the com- 
mons. 

17. The sword was now to decide the contest. The royal 
cause was supported by a great proportion of the landed in- 
terest, all the friends of the established church, and all the 
catholics in the kingdom. On the side of the parliament were 
the city of London and most of the greater towns, with all the 
dissenters and sectaries. The first campaign was favourable 
to the royalists, who defeated the parliamentary forces at 
Worcester and Edgehill, but lost the battle of Newbury. 

18. The parliament now entered into a strict confederacy 
with the Scots, both in the articles of polities and religion ; 
and the Solemn League and Covenant, a new bond more spe- 
cific in its objects than the former, and more treasonable m 
its purpose, was framed at Edinburgh, for the purification of 
both churches, the reformation of both kingdoms, the mainte- 
nance of the privileges of king and parliament, and bringing 
to justice all malignants. In consequence of this confederacy 
20000 Seots took the field to co-operate with the forces of the 
parliament. 

19. At this time Oliver Cromwell commanded a regiment 
of horse under Fairfax, general of the parliament ; but in 
reality directed all the measures of the army. In Scotland the 
royal cause was gallantly sustained by the marquis of Mon- 



328 3I0DERN HISTORY. part i*> 

trose ; but all was lost in England by the defeat at Naseby, in 
±6*5. The troops of the royalists being entirely dispersed, the 
king threw himself into the hands of the Scots, who basely 
delivered him up to the commissioners of parliament, from 
whom he was taken by Cromwell's orders, and conducted to 
the army, which was now master of the kingdom. Cromwell 
entering London assumed an absolute controul over the par- 
liament, and imprisoned all who disputed his authority. 
Charles, escaping from his confinement, fled to the^Isle of 
Wight; but was there detained a prisoner in Carisbrook cas- 
tle. 

20. The parliament, suffering under this military usurpa- 
tion, were now sincerely desirous of terminating a miserable 
anarchy by a treaty with t'he king, and, after a long negotia- 
tion, all terms were finally adjusted. Charles agreed to re- 
sign to parliament the military power, the disposal of all the 
offices of state, and the right of creating peers without the 
consent of parliament: he agreed toabolish the episcopal hier- 
archy, and to establish the presbyterian discipline. These 
concessions the parliament accepted by a majority of suf- 
frages, and declared them to be a sufficient basis for the set- 
tlement of the kingdom. Cromwell instantly surrounded the 
house of commons, and, excluding all but his own partizans 
(about sixty in number), a second vote was passed, rescinding 
the former, and declaring it treason in a king to levy war 
against his parliament. A court of justice was then appointed 
to try the king for this act of tre?*son. The house of lords 
having unanimously rejected this decree, were immediately 
voted, by this junto of independents, to be a useless branch 
of the constitution. 

21. Charles was brought to trial, and, refusing to acknow- 
ledge the authority of his judges, was condemned to suffer 
death. He was beheaded on the 30th of January, 1619. The 
arbitrary proceedings of this monarch in the beginning of his 
reign were certainly sufficient to justify that resistance on the 
part of the people which at length produced its effect, in con- 
fining the regal authority within its just bounds, and securing 
the rational liberties of the subject. But from the period when 
this end was attained resistance ceased to be lawful. Its fur- 



sect. 57. MODERN HISTORY. 329 

ther operations were criminal in the extreme. The subse- 
quent usurpations of the commons can no more be justified on 
any constitutional principle, than the murder of the king can 
be defended on the seore of legality, justice, or humanity. 



SECTION LVIf. 

THE COMMONWEALTH OP ENGLAND. 

1. The parliament of Scotland had taken no part in those' 
latter scenes, and had formally protested against the trial of 
the king. On his death they proclaimed Charles II their 
sovereign, but on the express condition of his signing the 
covenant, and ratifying their confession of faith. Ireland 
recognised him without any conditions. The heroic mar- 
quis of Montrose landed in the north of Scotland with a few 
foreign troops, and attempted to reduce the party of the 
covenanters, and to establish the legal authority of the king, 
independent of the servile restrictions with which they had 
fettered it. Being attacked by a much superior force, he was 
defeated, and betrayed into the power of his enemies, who 
put him to death by the hands of the executioner, 1650 ; dis- 
playing in the circumstances of his punishment all the inso- 
lence of cruelty which distinguishes revenge in the meanest 
of souls. Charles retired to Scotland, and was obliged, how- 
ever reluctantly, to acquiesce in all the terms that were im- 
posed on him. 

2. Cromwell, with 16000 men, marched into Scotland 
against the royalist covenanters, whom he defeated in the 
battle of Dunbar. He then followed the royal army, which 
retreated into England, and destroyed it in the decisive battle 
of Worcester, September 3, 1651. Charles fled in disguise 
through the western and southern counties, till he found an 
opportunity of escaping to France ,- and Cromwell returned 
in triumph to London. 

3. The republican parliament formed and executed great 
designs. A war with Holland was most ably maintained on 
both sides by three great naval commanders, Blake, the 



330 MODERN mSTORY. part ii. 

British admiral, and Van Tromp and de Ruyter, the Dutch 
admirals ; but the advantage was greatly in favour of the 
English, who took above 1600 Dutch ships. The parliament, 
elated by these successes, justly conceived that, while the 
nation was thus powerful at sea, the army was an unnecessary 
burden, and determined to reduce it. To prevent this mea- 
sure Cromwell framed a remonstrance of the army, demand- 
ing the election of a new parliament. This remonstrance 
being disregarded, he entered the house of commons, which 
he had surrounded with his troops, and declaring the parlia- 
ment dissolved by his authority, forcibly turned the members 
out of doors. The republic of England, which had subsisted 
four years and three months, was thus annihilated in one mo- 
ment, April 20, 1653. 

4. It was necessary, however, that there should be the 
appearance of a parliament. A few mean persons, of fana- 
tical character, were chosen by Cromwell's partizans, from 
the different counties of England, with five from Scotland 
and six from Ireland, to hold their function for fifteen 
months. This assembly, termed B areb one's parliament , from 
its leading member, a leather-seller, became the scorn of the 
public, and was dissolved by its own vote, after five months. 

5. The government was now vested in the council of offi- 
cers, who nominated Oliver Cromwell lord protector of the 
three kingdoms, invested him with the power of making 
peace, war, and alliance, and authorized a standing army of 
80000 men to be kept up for the support of government. His 
administration was despotic, vigorous, and spirited. He 
mantained the honour of the nation in the war with the Dutch, 
compelling them to yield the honour of the flag, and to com- 
pensate to the India company all its losses. He was success- 
ful likewise in his negotiations with France and Spain. But 
in his domestic government he was traversed hy his parlia- 
ments, whom it cost him a continual struggle, and even vio- 
lence, to keep in order. One parliament, properly prepared, 
voted him the regal title, which, by the counsel of his best 
friends, he was forced, most unwillingly, to refuse. In recom- 
pence of this self-denial the parliament confirmed his title of 
protector, with a fixed revenue, and decreed his right of ap- 
pointing a successor. He was kin sr in all but the name. 



sect. 5r„ MODERN HISTORY. 

6. By consent of parliament Cromwell appointed a house 
of lords ; but all the ancient peers declined the proffered ho- 
nour. He was forced to choose peers from the commons ; and 
thus lie lost the majority in the lower house. His temper 
soured with disappointment, a prey to chagrin, and in continual 
fear of assassination, he fell at length into a mortal disease, 
and died in the fifty-ninth year of his age, September 3, 1658. 

7. Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver, succeeded to the pro- 
tectorate by his father's appointment. He was a man of 
weak understanding and facile temper, utterly unfit for his 
hazardous situation, which accordingly he maintained only 
for a few months, resigning his office on the 22d of April, 
1659. His brother Henry, viceroy of Ireland, immediately 
followed his example. The family of the Cromwells, which 
the talents of one man had elevated above the sovereigns of 
their country, returned to its original obscurity. 

8. The remains of that nominal parliament which had put 
the king to death, termed, in derision, the rump, was now dis- 
solved by the council of officers. Of these every aspiring 
individual had his own separate views of ambition. Intrigue, 
cabal, and anarchy were universal ; and the nation, looking 
forward with horror to a series of calamities, began earnestly 
to desire the restitution of its ancient government. George 
Monk, commander of the army in, Scotland, judged those 
symptoms favourable for restoring the exiled monarch to the 
throne of his ancestors. Marching his army into England, he 
declared his resolution to bring about the election of a free 
parliament, which all men knew to be synonymous with the 
restoration of the king. It was of course violently opposed 
by the republican party, who even attempted to excite a new 
civil war ; but they were forced at length to acquiesce in the 
measure. A free parliament was assembled, and a message 
was presented from Charles, offering a full indemnity, com» 
plete liberty of conscience, and payment of all arrears to the 
army. The message was received with transports of joy, and 
Charles II was proclaimed king on the 29th day of May, 
1660. 



T t. 



5^0 MODERN HISTORY paht. ii. 

SECTION LVIII. 

THE REIGNS OF CHAELES II AND JAMES II. 

1. The nation, without imposing any terms on their new 
sovereign, trusted implicitly to his good dispositions. Charles 
was humane and complacent, hut indolent, luxurious, and pro- 
digal ; and therefore was neither able to support the national 
honour abroad, nor to command obedience and respect to his 
domestic government. The sale of Dunkirk was a measure 
offensive to the pride of the nation. A war with Holland, 
Supported at a vast expence, and maintained in many des- 
perate but indecisive engagements, was attended finally with 
no material benefit. By the treaty of Breda, concluded in 
1667, New York was secured to the English, the isle of 
Polerone to the Dutch, and Acadia in North America to the 
French. 

2. The sale of Dunkirk, and the unsuccessful issue of the 
war, attributed to the counsel of the earl of Clarendon, pro- 
cured the disgrace and banishment of that illustrious man, 
1667. The peace was scarcely concluded with Holland, when 
England joined with her and Sweden in a triple alliance, to 
oppose the progress of the arms of Lewis XIV in the Low 
Countries ; and that object being attained, by the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1668, the French monarch gained the 
English over to his interest in a new Avar against the Dutch, 
which brought their republic to the brink of destruction. 

3. The domestic administration of Charles was embroiled 
from various causes, originating in the personal character 
and dispositions of the sovereign. He trusted to profligate 
and worthless counsellors. His arbitrary notions of govern- 
ment, and the partiality which he showed to the catholics, 
gave perpetual alarm and uneasiness to a great proportion of 
his subjects. Complaints resounded from every quarter; and 
the parliament required a test-oath, abjuring popery, from all 
persons in public employment. On refusal to take this oath, 
the king's brother, James duke of York, was deprived of his 
office of high admiral. 



sect. 58. MODERN HISTORY. 34$ 

&. Titus Oates, a worthless impostor, pretended to have 
discovered a plot of the catholics for assassinating the king, 
burning London, massacring the protestants, and placing the 
duke of York on the throne. Another villain, named Bedloe, 
joined his evidence to that of Oates j and on their perjured 
testimony, afterward fully exposed, a few miserable priests 
suffered death. A new test was imposed, which excluded all 
papists from both houses of parliament. The treasurer 
Danby was impeached for advising the last peace with France, 
though it was proved that he had acted by his sovereign's 
orders; and a bill passed the house of commons, excluding 
the duke of York from the succession to the crown. A more 
important bill for the general liberty, the act of habeas cor- 
pus, was the work of the same session of parliament. (Sect. 
LIX, § l4) 

5. The distinguishing epithets of whig and tory were now 
jirst known; the former, the opposers of the crown, against 
the latter, its partizans ; and each party, as in all factions, 
carried its principles to an extreme. The whigs, predomi- 
nant in the next parliament, raged Avith fury against the 
catholics, and insisted on the king's assent to the bill for the 
exclusion of his brother. His only expedient was to dissolve 
the parliament ; but he found their successors equally violent. 
After various fruitless attempts to conciliate their favour to 
his measures, a dissolution of this parliament ensued, the last 
which Charles assembled. 

6. But the great cause of dissatisfaction remained. The 
duke of York was at the bottom of all the measures of go- 
vernment. A conspiracy was formed by Shaftesbury, Russel, 
Sidney, and the duke of Monmouth, natural son of the king, 
on the pretence of vindicating the national liberties. It was 
discovered by one of the associates, and Russel and Sidney 
suffered capital punishment. The detection of this conspira- 
cy strengthened the authority of the sovereign. The duke 
of York was restored to his office of high admiral, and tacitly 
acknowledged as the successor to the crown. Charles II died 
on the 6th of February, 1685, in the 55th year of his age, and 
the 25th of his reign. 



342 MODERN HISTORY. part iz. 

7. The duke of York succeeded to Ike throne by the title 
of James II. His reign was short and inglorious. He was 
the instrument of his own misfortunes, and ran headlong to 
destruction. The catholics at this time were not the hun- 
dreth part of the nation, yet James was weak enough to make 
the desperate attempt of substituting the popish faith in room 
of the protestant. Discarding the nobility from his councils, 
he was directed solely by Romish priests. In the very out- 
set of his reign he expressed his contempt of the authority of 
parliament, and a firm purpose to exercise an unlimited des- 
potism. 

8. The duke of Monmouth, having excited a new rebellion, 
was defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded; and the most 
inhuman rigour was exercised in the punishment of all his 
partizans. The parliament was in general submissive to the 
king's will, which for a while met with no opposition nor 
eontroul. A declaration was published, establishing full 
liberty of conscience in matters of religion ; and several 
bishops, who refused to publish it in their dioceses, were 
committed to prison. A catholic president was appointed to 
one of the colleges of Oxford. An ambassador was sent to 
the pope, and a papal nuncio received in London. The catho- 
lics openly boasted that theirs would soon be the religion of 
the state. 

9. James had three children; Mary, the wife of the stadt- 
liolder, William prince of Orange; Anne, married to prince 
George of Denmark; and James, an infant. The stadthohler 
had considered his right to the crown of England as certain, 
before the birth of this infant, and, after that event, project- 
ed still to gain it by arms or intrigue; the infatuation of the 
king and the general discontent of the people giving him the 
most flattering invitation. James was informed of those 
views of his son-in-law, but would give them no credit, till 
actually apprized of his landing with an army, November 
15th, 1688. 

10. The principal nobility and officers immediately joined 
the standard of the prince of Orange ; and James was at onee 
abandoned by his people, ministers, favourites, and his own 
children,, Leaving Loudon in disguise, he was discovered 



sect. 59. MODERN HTSTORY. SiS 

and brought back by the populace ; but the prince of Orange 
wisely favoured his escape, and he found means a few days 
after to convey himself to France. 

11. The throne being declared vacant, it was proposed in a 
convention-parliament, that the crown should be settled on 
the princess Mary and her issue, her husband governing as 
regent, whom failing, on the princess Anne. The stadtholdcr 
declining the office of regent, it was finally resolved to confer 
the crown on the prince and princess of Orange, the former 
to have the sole administration of the government. 

12. To this settlement was added a declaration, fixing the 
rights of the subject and the royal prerogative. Of this the 
most important articles are the following. The king cannot 
suspend the laws, nor their execution; he cannot levy money 
without consent of parliament ; the subjects have right to 
petition the crown ; a standing army cannot be kept up in time 
of peace hut by consent of parliament ; elections and parlia- 
mentary debate must be free, and parliaments must be fre- 
quently assembled, &c. Such was the final settlement of the 
British government at the great era of the revolution. At 
this period, when the constitution became fixed and deter- 
mined, we finish the sketch of the history of our own country. 
See Jldams's History of Great Britain, 12mo. ; or an History 
of England in a series of Letters, &c. 2 vols. l2mo. 

SECTION LIX. 

ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 

1. The rudiments of the constitution of England may be 
traced as far back as the Norman conquest. William distri- 
buted a great proportion of the lands among his Norman fol- 
lowers, subjecting these, as well as the Anglo-Saxons who 
retained their property, to the feudal tenures, and thus ex- 
tinguishing at once the ancient liberties of the people. Eng- 
land was divided into 60215 military fiefs, all held of the 
crown, under the obligation of the vassal's taking arms for 
his sovereign whenever required. In the continental king- 
doms of Europe, as in France, the feudal system arose hy 
slow degrees, nor was there of consequence the same union 



344 MODERN HISTORY. 3? Art it. 

of the fabric as in England. The feudal lords were inde- 
pendent of one another, ever at variance from their mutual 
pretensions, and often owning but a very slender allegiance 
to the crown. Their vassals suffered from oppression, and 
often struggled for their freedom ; but those efforts being 
partial produced no consequence favourable to the liberty of 
the nation. In England all were oppressed by the enormous 
weight of the crown ; it was a common grievance, and pro- 
duced at times a violent effort for the general liberties of the 
people. 

2. The forest-laws imposed by the conqueror (Sect. XV, 
§ 2. 11) were a grievance felt by the whole nation, as render- 
ing every man's property precarious, and subject to the arbi- 
trary encroachments of the crown. It was no wonder that 
the barons and their vassals should cordinally unite to rid 
themselves of so intolerable a hardship. Henry I found it 
necessary to conciliate his subjects, by mitigating the most 
rigorous of tbe feudal laws. A greater advance was made 
under Henry II, by the institution of the trial by jury. But 
John, imprudently resisting this natural progress toward a 
rational freedom, was soon compelled into those important 
concessions, the Charta de Foresta and Magna Charta. From 
that time the constitution of England was that of a limited 
monarchy, whatever we may judge of the actual government, 
which was often most arbitrary and despotieal. 

3. The next memorable era in the progress of the English 
constitution was the reign of that weak prince Henry III, 
when the parliament received a new form, by the admission 
of the representatives of the people, the deputies of the coun- 
ties and boroughs. (Sect. XXII, § 2.) His successor Ed- 
ward I acknowledged their authority in obtaining all his sub- 
sidies, and ratified a new law, which declared, that no tax 
should be levied without the consent of lords and commons. 
The Magna Charta was confirmed no less than eleven times 
in the course of this reign. 

*. Thus the constitution continued advancing, till its pro- 
gress was suspended by the civil wars of York and Lancaster. 
The rights of both prince and people seemed then to be en- 
tirely forgotten ; and (he race of Tudor found no resistance 



sect. 59. MODERN HISTORY. 345 

from parliament to their vigorous and despotic sway. The 
talents of Elizabeth, and the high character which her 
government sustained with foreign powers, extinguished all 
domestic disquiets, while the predominant feeling was the 
maintenance of the power and dignity of the crown. 

5. But under the succeeding prince, when his power and 
dignity were abased by his own weakness, the nation began 
to awake from its lethargy; and that spirit of opposition, 
which in this reign confined itself to complaints, in the next 
broke forth with alarming violence. Charles I, endowed 
with superior energy of character, acted, as he conceived, on 
a principle of duty, which obliged him to maintain the pre- 
rogative of his predecessors, and to transmit it unimpaired 
to his posterity ; but he was imprudent in exerting with 
rigour an authority, which he wanted ultimate resources to 
support. He was compelled to sign the Petition of Mights, a 
grant more favourable to liberty than Magna Charta. The 
true patriots were satisfied with this concession, which con- 
ferred the most ample constitutional freedom. But the popu- 
lar leaders made patriotism the cloak of insatiable ambition, 
and advanced in their demands with every new compliance. 
The last appeal was made to the sword, and the contest 
ended in the destruction of the constitution. 

6. The despotism which succeeded, and the fluctuation of 
power from the long parliament to the protector, and finally 
to the leaders of a standing army, afforded demonstrative 
evidence how vain was the project of a republic, under which 
the demagogues had masked their designs. Weary of anar- 
chy, the nation returned with high satisfaction to the best of 
all constitutions, a limited monarchy. 

7. New encroachments under Charles II produced new 
limitations ; and the act of Habeas Corpus gave the utmost 
possible security to personal liberty. The violent and frantic 
invasion of the constitution by James II banished himself 
and his posterity from the throne, and produced a new and 
solemn contract between the king and the people. Regard- 
ing, therefore, the revolution as the final settlement of the 
English constitution, we shall endeavour briefly to delineate 
the chief features of that great political structure. 



346 MODERN HISTORY, fast ii„ 

8. The constitution of Great Britain may be viewed under 
two distinct heads, the legislative power, and the executive 
power ; the last comprehending the prerogative of the crown. 

The power of legislation belongs to parliament, whose con- 
stituent parts are, the king, lords, and commons. The house 
of lords consists of the temporal peers of England, and of the 
spiritual, or the two archbishops and twenty-four bishops. To 
these, since the unions with Scotland and Ireland, are added 
sixteen delegates from the peerage of the former kingdom, 
and thirty-two from the latter. The house of commons con- 
sists of the deputies of the counties and principal towns of 
England, and the two universities, amounting in all to 513 
members; to whom, since the unions, are added 45 from 
Scotland and 100 from Ireland. These deputies are chosen 
hy the freeholders who possess a property yielding a certain 
yearly rent. The chancellor generally presides in the house 
of lords ; the speaker is president in the house of commons. 

9. The king is the most essential component part of parlia- 
ment, because he alone has the power to convoke, prorogue, 
and dissolve it. He has likewise a negative on all its acts, 
which are invalid without his approbation ; and each house 
lias a negative on the decrees of the other. It is likewise 
competent to the king to propose any measure to be laid be- 
fore the parliament. 

10. All questions regarding public affairs and national 
measures may orignatein either house of parliament, except 
grants of money, which must always take their rise in the 
bouse of commons, and cannot be altered, though they may 
be rejected, by the lords. Any matter must be primarily 
discussed in that house in which it originates, and, until it is 
there decided, cannot be received by the other house, unless 
a conference should be demanded : A bill refused by either 
bouse is utterly void; and a bill passed by both houses is 
void, if refused by the king. 

11. The executive power of government is vested in the 
king, (1.) The first branch of his office is the administration 
of justice. The judges of all courts of judicature are the 
king's substitutes. lie is the prosecutor of all crimes, and 



sect. 59. . MODERN HISTORY. 347 

has the power,of pardoning- and suspending the execution of 
all sentences. (2.) He is the fountain of all honour, the giver 
of all titles and dignities, and the disposer of all the offices 
of state. (3.) He is the superintendant of commerce, and has 
the power of regulating weights and measures, and of coining 
money. (4.) He is the head of the church, and names the 
archbishops and bishops. (5.) He is commander in chief of 
all the sea and land forces, and can alone equip fleets, levy 
armies, and appoint all their officers. (6.) He has the power 
of making war, peace, and alliance, and of sending and re- 
ceiving ambassadors. (7.) He is above the reach of all 
oourts of justice, and is not responsible to any judicature 
for his conduct in the administration of government. 

12. These high powers of the sovereign, which, at first 
sight, would seem to render him an absolute monarch, are 
thus admirably controuled. The king is dependent on par- 
liament for all subsidies, without which he can neither main- 
tain his fleets and armies, nor pay the salaries of officers. 
The parliament indeed settles a revenue on the king for life, 
but this is merely sufficient for the maintenance of his house- 
hold, and for supporting a proper dignity of establishment. 
As the king's revenue must be renewed by parliament at the 
beginning of every reign, it is in their power to withhold it 
till all abuses shall be remedied. At those periods there- 
fore the constitution may be brought back to its first princi- 
ples, and all encroachments of the prerogative may be re- 
strained. 

13. The king can never reign without a parliament. It 
must by law be assembled once in three years, on a notice of 
forty days before its meeting. Though the king is the head 
of the church, yet he cannot alter the established religion, 
nor frame ecclesiastical regulations. These must be made by 
the assembly of the clergy. The king cannot interfere in the 
ordinary administration of justice, nor refuse his consent to 
the prosecution of crimes. He may pardon offences, but can- 
not exempt the offender from pecuniary compensation to' the 
party injured. He cannot alter the standard of money, either 
in weight or alloy. He cannot raise an army without the 
consent of parliament ; and though a moderate standing force 

u u 



&$,g MODERN HISTORY part 11 

is kept up with their consent, yet the funds for its payment 
require an annual renewal by parliament. Though the 
sovereign is not amenable to any judicature, yet his minis- 
ters are responsible for all the measures of government, and 
are impeachable by the commons at the bar of the house of 
lords, for every species of misconduct or misdemeanor. 

The freedom of parliamentary discussion is secured, be- 
cause no member can be questioned for any opinions or 
words, except in that house of parliament in which they were 
uttered. 

14. The personal security and the rights of the subject are 
farther guarded by these three peculiarities of the British 
constitution, the habeas corpus, trial by juries, and the liberty 
of the press. By the act of habeas corpus every prisoner 
must be brought before a judge, the cause of his detainer 
certified, and the judge's authority interposed to it. The 
violation of this statute is punishable by the highest penal- 
ties. The habeas corpus n ay be suspended in times of dan- 
ger to the state, as during the existence of a conspiracy or 
rebellion Though this act does not extend to Scotland, yet 
the subjects of that part of the united kingdoms are equally 
secured by their own laws. (Statute 1701, e. 6.) 

15. All crimes must be tried by a jury of twelve men in 
England and Ireland, and fifteen in Scotland. The prisoner 
has a right of challenging or objecting to the jurors ; and 
(except in Scotland), without showing any Cause, he may 
challenge twenty successively in ordinary cases, and thirty- 
five in cases of treason. The jury are judges both of the law 
and the fact j nor has the opinion of the court any weight in 
their decision, hut such as they choose to give it. 

16. The liberty of the press is a guardian of the constitu- 
tion, because it is competent for any individual to convey to 
the publie his opinion of the whole conduct of government, 
and the merits of its conductors ; to canvass every counsel of 
state, and to examine every publie measure ; thus forcibly 
restraining all ministers and magistrates within the limits of 
their duty. It is further the guardian of injured innocence,, 
and the redresser of all wrongs that evade the cognizance of 
law. Yet this most valuable right, if unrestrained, would be 



sect. 60. MODERN HISTORY. 

'i 

the source of the greatest mischief. If it were allowable 
with impunity to assail the established government, to con- 
vulse society, to disseminate atheism, to injure the reputa- 
tian, or to endanger the life and property, of individuals, by 
false accusations, there would be an end of all liberty and civil 
happiness. The liberty of the press consists in this, that 
there is no examination of writings previous to the prin- 
ting and publishing of them ; but, after publication, such 
writings as offend in any of the above particulars are punish- 
able by law, on trial of the offence by jury. Thus the public 
is properly constituted the judge and censor of all writings 
addressed to itself. 

Such are briefly the outlines of the admirable fabric of the 
British constitution. Est o perpetua ! (may it exist for ever /) 



SECTION LX. 

OE THE PUBLIC REVENUE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

1. The property belonging to the crown of Great Britain, 
which was anciently very great, and fully adequate to the 
maintenance of government, consisted of domain-lands, the 
lirst-fruits and tenths of church-benefices, the rents of vacant 
bishoprics and abbeys, the profits of military tenures, fines 
imposed in courts of justice, forfeitures, &c. From alienations 
made by the sovereigns, and retrenchments of their preroga- 
tive, the property of the crown is now become so inconsidera- 
ble, that the king may be regarded as entirely dependent on 
the people for the support of his dignity, and the means of 
carrying on the business of the state. The public revenue, 
destined for these two purposes, arises now from the sub- 
sidies granted by the people. The supplies are voted by the 
commons, and the means of furnishing them, by taxes pro- 
posed by the chancellor of the exchequer, must receive their 
sanction. 

2. Of these taxes some are annual, as the land tax and 
malt tax ; others are perpetual, as the customs, excise, salt- 
duty, post-office duty, stamps, house and window tax, duties 



350 MODERN HISTORY, tart ft. 

on servants, hackney coaches, pensions, &e. The customs are 
a tax paid by the merchant on all imported and exported 
commodities ; the excise is an inland imposition, laid some- 
times on the consumer, and sometimes on the retail seller. 

3. The produce of these taxes is, in the first place, destined 
to the payment of the interest of the national debt, and after- 
ward to the ordinary support of government. 

The national debt arose soon after the revolution, when it 
was thought hazardous to impose annual taxes equal to the 
annual expence of government, and more expedient to borrow 
large sums for the immediate service of the state, raising 
annually no more than to pay the interest of that debt. The 
same system has been since persevered in ; so that the nation- 
al debt, which a century ago was 16 millions, is now about 
500 millions. To pay the interest of this enormous sum the 
produce of the taxes (excepting the malt and land tax) are 
primarily destined; and as somewhat more is annually raised 
than the interest of the debt and the maintenance of govern- 
ment demand, the surplus constitutes a sinking fund for pay- 
ing off the principal of the debt. 

4. The produce of the taxes, originally separate funds, is 
now thrown into two or three capital funds ; one of which is 
mortgaged by parliament for the maintenance of the king's 
household and the civil list, namely, the salaries of officers of 
state, judges, and ambassadors, private expences, pensions, 
&c. 

5. Notwithstanding the little prospect of an extinction of 
the national debt, government maintains its credit, and will 
always find lenders, because the terms granted are beneficial, 
and the security is transferable; so that a lender can thus 
always obtain payment of his principal sum, and frequently 
make gain by the transference. The value of stock rises and 
falls from various occasional causes, as national prosperity, 
or the reverse, plenty or scarcity of money, quantity of pub- 
lic debt. On this variation is founded the practice of stock- 
jobbing, that is, either buying and selling actual property in 
the public funds, which is a lawful speculation, or gaming and 
wagering on the price of stock, which is an illicit but com- 
mon practice. The practice of stock-jobbing, even by the 



sect. 61. MODERN HISTORY. 351 

transference of actual property, and far more by gaming on 
that which is fictitious, is prejudicial to commerce and manu- 
factures, by engrossing a great part of the national wealth, 
repressing industry, encouraging fraud, and often tempting to 
the most treacherous and dangerous devices for raising and 
sinking the funds. 



SECTION LXL 

HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER LEWIS XIII. 

1. France, which under Henry IV had risen from a state 
of miserable anarchy to high prosperity and splendour, sunk, 
upon his death, into weakness, faction, and disorder. Mary 
of Medici, regent in the minority of her son Lewis XIII, a 
weak woman, and of restless ambition, disgusted the nobility 
by her partiality for her Italian courtiers. Concini, her first 
minister, created marshal d'Ancre, became so universally 
odious, that he was openly murdered in the Louvre, and his 
body torn to pieces. The queen was removed from Paris, and 
kept for two years a prisoner at Blois, till relieved by the 
duke d'Epernon, to serve his own purposes of ambition. The 
queen's party was at war with that of her son, and the whole 
kingdom in a state of anarchy. 

2. The genius of cardinal Richelieu, who was now brought 
into power by Mary of Medici, soon effected a wonderful 
change. He reconciled the mother and her son, soothed the 
contending factions, and, on the king's assuming the govern- 
ment, directed every public measure to the complete re- 
establishment of the power and dignity of the monarchy. The 
party of the Calvinists, alienated by persecution, attempted 
to throw off their allegiance, and to establish an independent 
state, of which Rochelle was to be the capital. Richelieu 
bargained with the Dutch to furnish a fleet for subduing their 
protestant brethren, and the Dutch now fought as keenly for 
the catholic religion as they had lately fought for the protes- 
tant. The English sent a fleet to the aid of the people of 
Rochelle, who for a year maintained a most obstinate siege 



MODERN HISTORY. 



agpi 



imst the French troops, commanded by the cardinal in 
person. They were at length forced to surrender. Rochelle 
and all the other protestant cities of France were stripped of 
their privileges, and their fortifications were destroyed. 
Thus Calvinism was for ever crushed in France. 

3. Lewis XIII, though a weak prince, saw his advantage in 
entering into all the great designs of his minister. Richelieu 
influenced the politics of all Europe j and the power of Aus- 
tria was attacked in Germany, Flanders, Spain, and Italy. 
His talents were equally displayed in active war, in foreign 
negotiation, and in his domestic arrangements. Yet at this 
very time a formidable cabal was undermining him. Mary 
of Medici was jealous of the man whom she had raised; and 
the duke of Orleans, the king's brother, sought to supplant 
him in power. Richelieu, with astonishing intrepidity' of 
mind, repressed this conspiracy. Fortified by the king's 
authority, he seized the marshal de Mari'ilac, one of his most 
dangerous enemies, at the head of his army; and tried and 
put him to death by a. lawless stretch of power. Orleans, 
apprehensive of a similar fate, fled from the kingdom; and 
Mary of Medici, arrested and removed from court, ended her 
career of ambition in voluntary exile at Brussels. Orleans, 
supported by the duke de Monlmorenci, attempted a rebel- 
lion ; but their army was defeated, and Montmorenci execu- 
ted for treason. The queen had taken part with the enemies 
of the cardinal, who imprisoned her confessor, and seized and 
examined her papers. Anne of Austria was very near sharing 
the fate of Mary of Medici. 

4. Amidst all this turbulence of foreign war and state cabal, 
Biehelieu cultivated literature, encouraged the sciences, in- 
stituted the French academy, and composed pieces for the 
theatre. The administration of Richelieu, though turbulent 
from faction and civil war, was, on the whole, extremely 
glorious for France ; and sowed the seeds of its splendour in 
the succeeding reign of Lewis XIV. The death of this great 
minister, in 1642, was soon after followed by the death of his 
sovereign Lewis XIII, in 16*3. 



sect. 62. MODERN HISTORY. 353 

SECTION LXIL 

SPAIN UNDER PHILIP III AND PHILIP IV. CONSTITUTION 
OF PORTUGAL AND OF SPAIN. 

1. From the death of Philip II Spain declined in power, 
and notwithstanding its great sources of wealth, the national 
finances were in the utmost disorder. Philip III was forced 
to conclude a peace with the Dutch, and to restore to the 
house of Nassau its confiscated estates. With a weak and 
despicable policy he expelled from his kingdom ail the Moors, 
who were the most industrious of its inhabitants, 1610. 
This depopulation, with that already produced by its Ameri- 
can colonies, rendered Spain' a lifeless and enervated mass. 
Philip was entirely under the influence of his minister the 
duke of Lerma. 

2. The national weakness and disorders increased under 
Philip IV, who, equally spiritless as his father, was Implicitly 
ruled by his minister Olivarez. His reign was a continued 
series of miscarriages and defeats. The Dutch seized Bra- 
zil ; the French invaded Artois; Catalonia revolted to France; 
and Portugal shook off its yoke, and became an independent 
kingdom. 

3. No revolution was ever effected with such ease and 
celerity as that of Portugal. The people were disgusted with 
the rigorous and impolitic administration of Olivarez. The 
duke of Braganza, descended from the ancient kings of Por- 
tugal, had the command of the army. Instigated by the ambi- 
tion of the duchess, and seeing the spirit of the nation favour- 
able to his views, he caused himself to be' proclaimed king at 
Lisbon. The Spanish guards were attacked and roufed, and 
the chief partizans of the government put to death by the 
populace. All the principal towns followed the example of 
the capital, and soon after all the foreign settlements. From 
that era, 1640, Portugal became an independent sovereignty, 
after having been sixty years an appanage of the kingdom of 
Spain. 

*. The government of Portugal approaches to an absolute 



354 MODERN HISTORY, part h. 

monarchy. The consent of the states or cortes, consisting of 
clergy, nobility, and commons, was formerly necessary to the 
imposition of taxes, and the settlement of the succession to 
the crown. But this assembly, convoked only by the royal 
mandate, has for a long time ceased to meet. The ordinary 
business of government is transacted by the king and his 
council of state, which is appointed by himself. The revenue 
of the crown arises from its domains, including the family 
estates of Braganza; from the duties on exports and imports, 
from the taxes, and from a stated proportion of the gold 
brought from Brazil. The state of the commerce and manu- 
factures of Portugal is extremely low. Though the soil 
and climate are favourable to cultivation, yet the agriculture 
of the kingdom is much neglected. 

5. The reigns of Philip III and "IV of Spain, though an sera 
of national humiliation, derived some fame from the state of 
literature. Dramatic composition, poetry, romance, and even 
history, were cultivated with great success. But those pur- 
suits are in some sort the amusements of indolence, which 
was the predominant character of the people. This charac- 
ter may have arisen from two sources. The torrent of wealth 
poured in from America retarded, in the lower classes, domes- 
tic industry and manufactures, while it increased the pride 
of the gentry, and made them disdain all occupation ; and the 
despotism of the government strongly repressed all enterprize 
and activity in the people. 

6. The constitution of Spain, of which the sovereignty was 
in ancient times elective, is now that of an absolute mo- 
narchy. The crown is hereditary ; though at different times, as 
in 1619 and 1713, there has been a new limitation of the suc- 
cession made by the monarch. The Cortes, or states of the 
kingdom, limited in former times the power of the sovereign; 
but Charles V annihilated their authority, by depriving the 
nobility and clergy of their seat in those assemblies. The 
remaining members, the deputies of the towns, are entirely 
under the controul of the monarch. The king's council, or 
Consejo Meal,i$ the organ of government ', but no department 
of the state has any constitutional power to regulate the will 
of the prince. 



sect. 63. MODERN HISTORY. 355 

SECTION LXIII. 

AFFAIRS OF GERMANY FROM THE ABDICATION OF CHARLES V 
TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

1. To preserve the connection of the affairs of Germany 
with those of the other kingdoms of Europe, we must return 
to the period of the abdication of Charles V, when the empire 
was distracted by the political factions and quarrels of its 
independent princes, and by the contending sects of the catho- 
lics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. Ferdinand vainly attempted 
to reconcile those factions, and to unite the three religions. 
Maximilian II had still less power to effect this object than 
his predecessor ; nor was the state of affairs changed during 
the succeeding reigns of Rodolphus II and Matthias. A civil 
war of thirty years' duration reduced the empire to extremity. 
Under Ferdinand II, a zealous catholic, the protestant states 
of Bohemia, which had suffered under the government of 
Matthias, conferred their crown on the elector Palatine. 
Ferdinand, in revenge, deprived him both of his crown and 
electorate. 

2. The protestant cause was declining fast in Germany, 
and every thing seemed to indicate success to the schemes of 
Ferdinand for its entire annihilation, when it received new 
vigour from the intervention of Gustavus Adolphus king of 
Sweden. This great prince defeated the imperial generals, 
and carried the protestant banners triumphantly through Ger- 
many. The emperor was completely humbled, and the elec- 
tor Palatine was on the eve of restoration to his dominions, 
when the heroic Gustavus was slain in the battle of Lutzen, 
1632. The war was successfully prosecuted by the Swedish 
generals, while cardinal Richelieu harassed the house of Aus- 
tria both in Germany and Spain. 

3. In the succeeding reign of Ferdinand III, the protestants 
of Germany found the most active support both from the 
Swedes and the French. The emperor was forced to conclude 
the peace of Westphalia in 1648 ,• and these powers dictated 

x x 



356 MODERN HISTORY. part if. 

the terms. By this celebrated treaty all disputes were settled 
between the contending princes of the empire, and also be- 
tween the contending religions ; the Swedes were indemnified 
for the charges of the war, and acquired Pomerania, Stettin, 
Wismar, and other provinces, and their sovereign the dignity 
of prince of the empire ; its chief possessions were restored to 
the Palatine family ; the king of France was made landgrave of 
Alsace ; and an equal establishment of the three religions was 
decreed. This salutary peace laid the foundation of the fu- 
ture greatness and prosperity of the German empire. 



SECTION LXIV. 

FRANCE UNDER LEWIS XIV. 

1. On the death of Lewis XIII in 1633, his son Lewis XIV 
succeeded to the throne^ in the fifth year of his age. Europe, 
as we have seen, was in a most turbulent state ; and France, 
under the administration of Richelieu, acted a conspicuous 
part in exciting those general commotions. The queen-mo- 
ther Anne of Austria, appointed regent by the states, chose 
for her minister the cardinal Mazarin, an Italian, and from 
that circumstance odious to the people. The Spaniards, 
taking advantage of the king's minority and the popular dis- 
contents, made an attack on Champagne ; but were defeated 
in a series of engagements by the great Conde. The marshal 
de Turenne shared with him the palm of glory. The peace of 
Westphalia composed those differences. 

2. At this very time the commotions of the Fronde broke 
out in Paris. The jealousy of Mazarin' s power, felt by the 
nobility, the unpopularity of his measures, the disorder of 
the finances, and the oppression of new taxes, inflamed the 
nation ; and the intrigues of the coadjutor, afterward cardi- 
nal de Retz, blew the flame into a civil war. The parliament 
of Paris took part with the rebels, who were headed by the 
prince of Conti, the dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, and 
the ehief nobility. The queen and the royal family removed 



sect. 64. MODERN HISTORY. 357 

to St. Germain's, and the ministerial party besieged Paris. 
Turenne, who at first supported them, was gained over by 
the rebels. The women, who are always concerned in the 
disturbances of France, acted a conspicuous part in those of 
the Fronde. A short pacification ensued ; but the imprudent 
violence of Mazarin soon renewed the disorders. At length the 
parliament of Paris assumed the right of banishing this unpo- 
pular minister, who retired to the imperial dominions ; but 
his influence continued to regulate the measures of state. 

3. A change ensued on the king's coming of age, 1652. 
De Retz and Orleans, the chief promoters of the rebellion, 
were banished, and Mazarin resumed his station as minister. 
Conde had joined the Spaniards in an attack on the French 
Netherlands, but was overmatched by Turenne, who revenged 
this insult by the taking of Dunkirk and several fortified 
towns under the Spanish government. By convention with 
Cromwell, Dunkirk had been ceded to the English, and after- 
ward sold to France by Charles II, as has been related. 

4. The war with Spain ended in 1659, by the peace of the 
Pyrenees. Many cessions were made on both sides, but 
France kept Roussillon and part of Artois. It was stipulated 
that Lewis XIV should marry the infanta, daughter of Philip 
IV, but should renounce all right which might thence open 
to the crown of Spain. 

5. The treaty of the Pyrenees gave peace to the south of 
Europe. The wars in the north, between Sweden, Poland, 
and Denmark, which arose after the abdication of Christina 
of Sweden, were terminated in the year following by the treaty 
of Oliva. Christina, a singular, but not a great woman, held 
the sceptre of Sweden for twenty-two years sifter the death 
of her father, Gustavus Adolphus. At length, tired of the 
cares of government, and affecting a passion for literature and 
philosophy, she resigned the crown to her cousin, Charles X, 
in 1654. Soon after this event Casimcr king of Poland was 
induced by age and sickness to abdicate the throne, after an 
honourable reign. 

6. Mazarin died in 1661, and Lewis XIV entered on a vigo- 
rous and splendid career. The finances, which from the time 



35S MODERN HISTORY. jfari ti 

of Henry IV had been in extreme disorder, were admirably 
regulated by Colbert; and the commerce and manufactures 
of the kingdom, wisely encouraged by government, were soon 
in the most flourishing situation. The canal of Languedoe 
joined the bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean ; the princi- 
pal sea-ports were enlarged and fortified ; and the internal 
police of the kingdom was regularly and strictly enforced.. 
At the same time the arms of Franee aided England against 
the Dutch, Germany against the Turks, and Portugal against 
Spain. 

7. On the death of Philip IV, Lewis, pretending that Spain 
had failed in payment of the dowry of his queen, besieged and 
took Lisle, with several other fortified towns of Flanders ; 
and in the next campaign made himself master of Franche- 
Comte. Lewis marched with his armies, but the glory of those 
conquests was owing to Turenne and Vauban. The triple 
alliance formed by England, Holland, and Sweden, checked 
this career, and brought about the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
1668, by which Lewis, though he retained Flanders, restored 
Franche-Comte, and confirmed the peace of the Pyrenees. 

8. The strength and prosperity of the kingdom continued to 
increase under the able administration of Colbert and Lou- 
vois. The civil factions of Holland, between the stadtholder 
and the party of the De Wits, tempted Lewis to undertake the 
conquest of that country. England, Germany, and Sweden, 
favoured his views. He overran the provinces of Utrecht, 
Overyssel, and Guelderland, and advanced almost to the gates 
of Amsterdam, when the Dutch inundated the country by 
letting in the sea, and the French were forced to retreat. 

9. The confederate powers now became jealous of the ascen- 
dancy of France ; and the prince of Orange had sufficient 
influence with England, and both branches of the house of 
Austria, to obtain their alliance in aid of the republic. The 
arms of Lewis, however, continued to be successful, and the 
peace concluded at Nimeguen, in 1678, was much to the ho- 
nour of France. Franche-Comte was assured as apart of her 
dominions, and Spain allowed her right by conquest to a great 
proportion of the Netherlands. 



sect. 64 MODERN HISTORY- 



359 



10. Notwithstanding the peace, Lewis, with the most culpa- 
ble insincerity, seized Strasburg, and secretly assisted the 
Hungarians and Turks in their attack on the imperial domi- 
nions. Vienna must have fallen into the hands of the Turks, 
if it had not been seasonably relieved by the victorious arms 
of John Sobieski king of Poland, in 1683. 

11. One of the weakest and most impolitic measures of 
Lewis XIV was the revocation of the edict of Mantes, granted 
by Henry IV for the toleration of the protestants. While 
their worship was suppressed, their churches demolished, and 
their ministers banished, the protestant laity were forbidden 
under the most rigorous penalties, to quit the kingdom, 1685. 
France, however, by this measure, lost above 500000 of her 
most industrious and useful subjects j and the name of Lewis 
XIV was execrated over a great part of Europe. Not long 
after this time a similar excess of intolerant bigotry precipi- 
tated James II from the throne of Britain, and forced him to 
seek an asylum from the monarch of France. 

12. William prince of Orange, the inveterate enemy of 
Lewis, brought about the league of Augsburg, 1686; and the 
war was renewed with France by Germany, Spain, England 
and Holland. The French arms were still successful. Lux- 
emburg defeated William in the battles of Steenkirk and Ner- 
winden ; Noailles was victorious in Spain ; and an army of 
100000 French ravaged the Palatinate, and took many of the 
most important towns on the llhine. This was the crisis of 
the glory of Lewis, whose fortunes were to sustain the most 
mortifying reverse. 

13. Those various and most extensive military enterprizes 
however flattering to the pride of the monarch, had been at- 
tended with enormous expence, and no solid advantage to the 
nation. The finances had fallen into disorder after the death 
of Colbert, and a peace was absolutely necessary. Ey the 
treaty of Rys wick, concluded in 1697, Lewis restored to Spain 
all the conquests made in the two last wars, several towns to 
the emperor, the duchy of Lorraine to its duke, and acknow- 
ledged the right of William to the crown of England. 



360 MODERN HISTORY. part li 

14. The succession of the kingdom of Spain, on the expect- 
ed death of Charles II without issue, was now the object of 
political intrigue. The emperor and the king of France had 
the only natural right of succession ; but William III, of Eng- 
land, from the dread of such an increase of power to either, 
proposed a treaty of partition of the Spanish dominions, at 
home and abroad, between the elector of Bavaria, the dau- 
phin, and the emperor's second son. Charles II chose rather 
to make his own destination, and appointed by will that the 
duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, should inherit 
Spain ; on whose death, without issue, it should devolve on the 
archduke Charles, youngest son of the emperor. 

15. On the death of Charles the duke of Anjou succeeded 
to the throne of Spain, in virtue of this settlement. The em- 
peror, the king of England, and the Dutch, proposed to se- 
parate from his crown the Spanish dominions in Italy. In 
this enterprize prince Eugene, son of the count de Soissons, 
commanded the imperial troops, an illustrious renegado from 
France, of great prowess and military skill. 

16. James II of England died in 1701 at St. Germain's, 
and Lewis gave mortal offence to the government of that 
country by acknowledging the title of his son. On the death 
of king William in the year following war was declared by 
England, Holland, and the empire, against France and Spain. 
Lev/is XIV was now in the decline of life. He had lost the 
ablest of his ministers and his greatest generals. The finances 
of the kingdom were exhausted. The armies of his enemies 
were commanded by Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, 
the ablest generals of the age, and supported by the trea- 
sures of the united powers. Savoy and Portugal joined 
this formidable confederacy, to overwhelm both branches of 
the house of Bourbon, and place the emperor's son on the 
throne of Spain. 

17. Marlborough took Venlo, Ruremonde, and Liege. Eu- 
gene and Marlborough defeated Tallard and Marsin, with the 
elector of Bavaria, in the signal battle of Blenheim, 1704. 
England and Holland attacked Spain by sea and land. Cata- 



sect. 64. MODERN HISTORY. 



m 



Ionia and Valencia were subdued in six weeks. Gibraltar was 
taken by the English, and has ever since remained in their 
possession. In the battle of Ramilies Marlborough defeated 
Villeroy, and left 20000 dead on the field. The contest, at 
Urst doubtful in Italy, ended alike disastrously for the house 
of Bourbon. The archduke Charles was in the mean time 
proclaimed king at Madrid; and Philip V had serious thoughts 
of abandoning Spain, and establishing his dominion in Ame- 
rica. But the successes of the duke of Berwick, natural son 
of James II, recovered for a while his desponding spirit, and 
even prompted his grandfather Lewis to avenge himself on 
England, by aiding the bold but desperate enterprize of esta- 
blishing the pretender James on the throne of Britain. 

18. But France and Spain were daily losing ground. The 
pfojje had acknowledged the title of the archduke Charles j 
the English seized the Mediterranean islands ; and Lewis, 
fallen from all his proud pretensions, humbly entreated a 
peace, which was refused, unless on the condition of dethron- 
ing his grandson with his own arms. He maintained for a 
while this unequal contest, and was at length forced to pro- 
pose terms equally humiliating; the cession of all his con- 
quests in the Netherlands and on the Rhine ; the acknow- 
ledgment of the archduke's title to the crown of Spain ; and 
a promise to give no aid to his grandson. But these terms 
were refused, and the inhuman condition still insisted on, that 
he should assist in dethroning his grandson. A last exertion 
was made in Spain under the duke of Vendome, at the head 
of a prodigious army ; and the victory obtained by the French 
at Villa-vitiosa restored Philip V to the throne of Spain. 
His competitor, the archduke, soon after became emperor, on 
the death of his elder brother. 

19. The intrigues of the cabinet of queen Anne, and the 
coming in of a tory ministry, changed the politics of Europe. 
It was resolved to make peace with France and Spain, and 
the treaty was concluded at Utrecht in 1713. It was stipu- 
lated that Philip king of Spain should renounce all eventual 
right to the crown of France, and his brother to the crown 
of Spain. The Dutch obtained an extension of frontier, and 



&62 MODERN HISTORY. part i# 

the emperor a great part of Spanish Flanders. The English 
gained from Spain, Gibraltar and Minorca, and from France, 
Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay, with the demoli- 
tion of the harbour of Dunkirk. In the following year a peace 
was concluded at Kastadt between France and the empire. 

20. The conclusion of this peace, after an honourable war, 
was the most memorable event in the reign of queen Anne, if 
we except the union of the two kingdoms of England and 
Scotland, in 1706, which was brought about by the negotia- 
tion of commissioners mutually chosen, to secure the rights 
of each kingdom in the best manner for their mutual benefit. 
It was stipulated that both should be represented by one par- 
liament (Sect. LIX, § 8), that they should have the same pri« 
vileges with respect to commerce, and that each kingdom 
should retain its own laws and established religion. The^p- 
cession to the crown was limited to the house of Hanover. 
Queen Anne died on the 30th of July, 1714. Lewis XIV died 
on the 1st of September, 1715, in the 78th year of his age. 
He was a prince of great vigour of mind, of good talents, 
though unimproved by education, of dignified yet amiable 
manners. His greatest fault was inordinate ambition, to 
which he sacrificed the real interests of his people. It was 
his highest honour, that he discerned and recompenced every 
species of merit. France was in his time equally illustrious 
by the great military talents of her generals, and by the splen- 
dour of literature and of the arts and sciences. 



SECTION LXV. 

OF THE CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE UNDER THE MONARCHY. 

1. It is necessary for understanding the history of France, 
that we should have some acquaintance with its former mo- 
narchical constitution : we shall therefore briefly trace the 
progress of the government under the different races of its 
sovereigns. The regal prerogative was extremely limited 



ssct. 65, MODERN HISTORY, 383 

under the Merovingian princes. (Sect. II, III.}. The general 
assembly of the nation had the right of electing the sovereign, 
and the power of legislation. Under the Carlovingian race 
the authority acquired by Pepin and Charlemagne sunk to 
nothing in the hands of their weak posterity ; and, though 
the crown had ceased to he elective, the regal dignity was a 
mere shadow. The power of the state had passed into the 
hands of a turbulent aristocracy, ever at variance among 
themselves, and uniting only to abase the crown and to op- 
press the people. 

2. Under the third or Gapetian race the crown acquired 
more weight, and many of the sovereigns exerted a proper 
spirit in restraining the power of the nobles, and in punishing 
their lawless outrages. To balance the weight of the aris- 
tocracy, Philip the Fair introduced the third estate to the 
national assemblies, which for above four centuries had con- 
sisted only of the nobles and clergy. The chief power of the 
state began now to shift to the scale of the monarch. The 
national assembly interfered rather to ratify than to decree j 
and in the fifteenth century the right of legislation was un- 
derstood to reside wholly in the crown. The right of tax- 
ation seemed to follow of course. The assemblies or states- 
general were now rarely convened, and from the reign of 
Lewis XIII were discontinued. 

3. But another power gradually rose in the state, which in 
some measure supplied the function of the assemblies in 
limiting the royal prerogative. The parliaments were origi- 
nally the chief courts of justice in the territory where they 
were established. The parliament of Paris naturally claimed 
a higher respect and dignity than the parliaments of the pro- 
vinces ; and, acquiring a right of appeal from their decrees, 
was considered as the paramount jurisdiction, and the depo- 
sitory of the laws of the kingdom. The sovereigns of France, 
on first assuming the powers of legislation and taxation, pro- 
duced their edicts to be registered in the court of the parlia- 
ment of Paris, and frequently consulted with its members on 
momentous affairs of state, as in questions of peace, war, or 
alliance. Thus the nation began to regard the parliament of 
Paris as a body which shared the powers of government with 



§64 MODERN HISTORY. sart x$ 

the monarch. In the latter reigns the parliament availed 
Itself of that general opinion, and made a bold stand in oppo- 
sing any arbitrary stretches of the king's authority, by refu- 
sing to verify and register his edicts. 

4. But as this power of the parliament was in reality a 
usurpation, it was constantly a subject of dispute. The mem- 
bers of this court were in no sense the representatives of the 
people, nor vested with any portion of the constitutional 
authority of the national assemblies. They were in the 
king's nomination, removable by him at pleasure, and even 
subject to entire annihilation as a body, at his command. 
Even without so violent a remedy, the sovereign could at any 
time frustrate their opposition to his will, by appearing per- 
sonally in the hall of parliament, and commanding his edict 
to be registered. 

5. Yet a power thus easily defeasible had its advantages to 
the state, and operated as a considerable restraint on the 
royal authority. Considering itself as the guardian of the 
public liberty, it remonstrated against all arbitrary encroach- 
ments of the crown, and, by giving alarm to the nation, fur- 
nished an opposition sufficiently powerful to obtain its ends. 
The provincial parliaments, though they likewise registered 
the royal edicts, never assumed any similar authority. They 
were only the chief courts of civil judicature. 

6. The king of France was therefore to be considered as 
an absolute monarch, whose authority was in some degree 
limited by the consuetudinary regulations of the state, and 
could not easily become entirely despotic and tyrannical. 
The crown was hereditary, but could not descend to a female, 
nor to a natural son. The royal revenue was partly fixed 
and partly arbitrary. The fixed revenue comprehended the 
royal domains, the duties on wines and salt, the land tax, 
capitation tax, and gift of the clergy; the other arose from 
all other taxes which the monarch thought fit to impose, and 
from the sale of offices. Most of these duties were leased 
out to the farmers-general. 

7. The Gallican church, though catholic, and acknowledg- 
ing the spiritual authority of the pope, had greatly abridged 
Ms ancient prerogatives within the kingdom. The assembly 



«.bct. 66. MODERN fflSTORY. 365 

of the church declared, in 1682, that no temporal sovereign 
could be deposed by the pope, nor subjects absolved from 
their allegiance : it decreed the subjection of the pope to the 
councils of the church, and denied his infallibility, when in 
opposition to the eanons of those councils. The pope had no 
power to levy money in France without the royal licence. In 
short, the ecclesiastical authority was in all respects subor- 
dinate to the civil. 



SECTION LXVI. 

OF PETER THE GREAT, CZAR OF MUSCOVY, AND CHARLES 
XII, KING OF SWEDEN. 

1. Two most illustrious men adorned the north of Europe 
in the latter part of the age of Lewis XIV, Peter the Great 
of Muscovy, and Charles XII of Sweden. 

Russia is said to have received the light of Christianity in 
the tenth century, but its history is utterly unknown till the 
middle of the fifteenth. At that period John Basilowitz 
redeemed the empire from its subjection to the Tartars, and 
extended its limits. His successors maintained a considera- 
ble splendour as sovereigns ; but their dominions were uncul- 
tivated, and their subjects barbarians. Alexis Michaelowitz, 
father of Peter the Great, was the first who published a code 
of laws. At the end of the sixteenth century Siberia was 
added to the empire, which till that time had been bounded 
by the limits of Europe. 

2. Peter, the youngest son of the emperor Alexis, became 
master of the empire in 1689. by setting aside a weak elder 
brother, and banishing a factious sister, who had seized the 
government. He was uneducated, and his youth had been 
spent in debauchery ; but his new situation immediately dis- 
played his talents, and gave birth to the wisest plans for the 
improvement of a barbarous people. The army and navy 
demanded his first attention. He began by breaking the tur- 
bulent militia of the Strelitzes, and by degrees formed a 
regular army of 12000 men on the strictest model of disci- 



S66 MODERN HISTORY j?Art. ii. 

pline. He employed some Dutchmen to build a small fleet, 
and made the first experiment of his arms in taking Azof 
from the Turks in 1696. 

3. Having gained the little instruction which he possessed 
from foreigners, Peter resolved to travel in search of know- 
ledge. Appointing Le Fort, an able Genevese, his ambassa- 
dor, he travelled as a private person in his suite through Ger- 
many to Holland, and studied the art of ship-building, by 
working in the docks Avith his own hands. Thence he pass- 
ed to England, and in a similar manner acquired the know- 
ledge of every art fitted for the improvement of his kingdom. 
The relative sciences Were cultivated with the same ardour 
and success ; and in sixteen months he returned to Moscow, 
to reduce those important acquirements into practice. 

4. Regiments were raised and trained to exercise on the 
German model ; the finances arranged and systematized ; the 
church reformed by new canons and regulations ; the patri- 
archate abolished ; and a much abused civil and criminal 
jurisdiction taken from the clergy, it was necessary to 
carry this reform even to the abolition of the national dress, 
and the suppression of ancient usages and habits of life ; in- 
novations reluctantly submitted to, but enforced by absolute 
power. 

5. While this great genius was thus employed in new-model- 
ling and polishing a barbarous empire, a competitor arose to 
dispute with him the sovereignty of the north, and to divide the 
admiration of Europe. Charles XII succeeded to the throne of 
Sweden in 1695, at fifteen years of age ; a prince whose sin- 
gular heroism of character and extraordinary achievements 
have ranked him with the greatest conquerors of antiquity. 
The situation of his kingdom speedily brought his genius into 
display. Russia, Poland, and Denmark joined in a league to 
seize and divide his dominions. The attack was begun by the 
Danes on Hoistein, while the king of Poland invaded Livonia, 
and the czar, Ingria. Charles immediately landed an army on 
Zealand, at the gates of Copenhagen, and in six weeks forced 
the king to purchase the safety of his capital and kingdom, by 
laying down his arms, and making full indemnity to the duke 
©f Holsteia. He now hastened into Ingria, and at the battle of 



sect. 6S. MODERN HISTORY. 367 

Narva defeated 60000 of the Russians, and took 30000 prison- 
ers. Such was the first campaign of Charles XII, then a boy 
of seventeen. 

6. Poland was destined to receive a more humiliating chas- 
tisement. Charles reduced Courland and Lithuania, penetra- 
ted into the heart of the kingdom, and subdued the capitals 
of Warsaw and Cracow. He then assembled the states, 
declared king Augustus deposed, and signified his pleasure 
that Stanislaus, his own dependant, should be elected sove- 
reign of Poland. The factions of the kingdom aided this 
revolution, and the will of Charles was complied with. The 
deposed king retired to his electoral dominions of Saxony. 

7. A negotiation begun with the czar was abruptly termi- 
nated by Charles, who declared that he would negotiate only 
at Moscow. Entering the Russian dominions with 45000 men, 
he was in the way of executing his threat, when he was in- 
duced, by a treacherous promise of aid from the Cossacks, 
to march through the Ukraine in the depth of winter. His 
army was wasted by fatigue and famine, when he was encoun- 
tered by the czar at Pultowa ; and the fate of Russia, Sweden, 
and Poland, hung upon that battle. Charles was entirely de- 
feated; 9000 Swedes fell in the field, and 14000 were taken 
prisoners, 1709. Augustus was restored to the throne of Po- 
land, and the czar took possession of Finland and Livonia. 

8. With the wreck of his army, reduced to 1800 men, 
Charles retreated into the Turkish dominions, and formed a 
camp near Bender. He endeavoured to prevail upon the 
grand seignior to arm against the czar, and succeeded after 
a long negotiation. Two hundred thousand Turks took the 
field, and the czar's army, far inferior in number, was sur- 
rounded, and, after ineffectual resistance, forced to capitulate 
to the grand vizier. The news of this capitulation destroyed 
all the hopes of Charles ; and his subsequent conduct seems 
the result of frenzy. The grand seignior having intimated his 
desire that the Swedes should quit his territories, Charles 
fortified his camp, and declared that he would defend it to 
the last extremity. After every means* ineffectually tried to 
make him alter this resolution, he was attacked by the Turk- 



368 MODERN HISTORY. a- art iii 

ish army, and taken fighting sword in hand amidst a massa- 
cre of his troops. 

9. In the mean time the czar and the king of Denmark 
were ravaging Sweden. Charles returned in disguise with 
two of his officers to his own dominions, and immediately con- 
ceived the design of wresting Norway from Denmark. Fail- 
ing in the outset of this enterprize, he was persuaded by 
Gortz, his prime minister, to attempt to dethrone George II, 
to seize a part of his continental dominions, and to plaee the 
pretender James on the throne of England. This project was 
concerted between Gortz and Alberoni, prime minister of Phi- 
lip V. The czar joined in the scheme, and made peace with 
Sweden j but an unforeseen event broke all their measures. 
In besieging the Norwegian fortress of Frederickshall Charles 
was killed by a cannon-ball, on the 11th of December, 1718. 

10. Sweden gained by the death of Charles a reformation 
of her government, and a salutary limitation of the arbitrary 
power of the sovereign. His sister Ulrica succeeded to the 
throne, and raised to it her husband, Frederick, landgrave of 
Hesse-Cassel. The states made peace with all the hostile 
powers. The czar was now engaged in a war with Persia, in 
the view of obtaining the command and commerce of the Cas- 
pian. This object he accomplished, and gained, by cession 
from the sophi, three provinces of the Persian empire. 

Peter the Great died January 28, 1725, and was succeeded 
by the czarina Catherine, formerly a Livonian captive, who 
possessed merit equal to her elevated station. His only son, 
Alexis Petrowitz, had been condemned to lose his life for 
treason; and the mode of his death, which immediately fol- 
lowed his condemnation, is unknown. Russia owes to Peter 
the Great all those beneficial improvements, which have rais- 
ed her, within the period of a century, from barbarism and 
obscurity, to the highest rank among the powers of Europe. 



*est. 67. MODERN HISTORY, 569 

SECTION LXVII. 

A VIEW OP THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE IN 
EUROPE, PROM THE END OP THE PIPTEENTH TO THE END 

OP THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

1. We have seen how much literature and the sciences 
were indebted to the art of printing for their advancement 
and dissemination toward the end of the fifteenth century. 
(Sect. XXXIV, § 12.) From that period classical learning, 
criticism, poetry, and history, made a rapid progress in most 
of the kingdoms of Europe. Philosophy did not keep pace 
with literature. The dogmas of Aristotle had kept possession 
of the schools till the seventeenth century, and had engrafted 
themselves even on the doctrines of theology. It required a 
superior genius to dissipate the mist of error, and to break 
the fetters on all advancement in useful science. Such was 
the great Bacon, lord Verulam, the most profound philoso- 
pher, and perhaps the most universal genius, that any age has 
produced. We find in his works an estimate of the actual at- 
tainments in all the sciences, a catalogue of the desiderata in 
each department, and a detail of the methods best suited to 
prosecute improvement and new discoveries. In fine, we owe 
to Bacon the sure method of advancing in knowledge by ex- 
periment and the observation of nature, instead of system and 
conjecture. 

2. The philosophy of Bacon produced its effect only by slow 
degrees. Gassendi, though he exposed the doctrines of Aris- 
totle, was still a theorist, and attempted to revive the atomic 
system of Epicurus. Des Cartes followed in the same track, 
and reared a whimsical theory of the universe, produced, as 
he supposed, by the fortuitous combination of atoms, moving 
in vortices through the immensity of space ; a theory recom- 
mended by the ingenuity with which it was supported, and its 
apparently solving many of the phenomena of nature. Coper- 
nicus had published his system of the planets a century be- 
fore, which, though condemned by the church, was received 
by BeS Cartes and the best philosophers. 



370 MODERN HISTORY. i»art ii« 

3. Galileo, in 1609, constructed telescopes (Sect. XXXIV, 
§ 5), and discovered the satellites of the larger planets, Jupi- 
ter and Saturn, and their motions, for which he was reward- 
ed by imprisonment, as a supporter of the Copernican heresy, 
Kepler investigated the laws which regulated the motions of 
the planets, and the analogy between their distances from the 
sun and periodical revolutions. The discoveries in astronomy 
led to improvements in navigation, and a great advancement 
of geometry in all its branches. Napier, in 1614, abridged 
calculation by the invention of logarithms. The Toricellian 
experiments determined the weight of the atmosphere. In 
1616 Harvey discovered the circulation of the Mood. 

4. The Royal Society, which originated from private meet- 
ings of the English philosophers, was incorporated by Charles 
II, in 1662, and has greatly contributed to the advancement 
of the sciences and useful arts. The Royal Academy of Sci- 
ences was instituted in 1666 by Lewis XIV. Similar institu- 
tions were founded in most of the countries of Europe ; among 
which there is a communication of science, and a laudable 
emulation excited by the publication of their transactions. 

5. In the end of the seventeenth century arose the immor- 
tal Newton, who, by exhausting the most important disco- 
veries of the laws of nature, has rendered it impossible for 
posterity to eclipse liis fame. He had discovered, before the 
age of twenty-four, the theory of universal gravitation, a 
principle which solves the chief phenomena of nature, and 
connects and regulates the whole machine of the universe. His 
theory of light and colours is the foundation of the whole 
science of optics, and his Principia the basis and elements of 
all philosophy. 

6. Locke, the contemporary of Newton, successfully ap- 
plied lord Bacon's mode of investigation to the study of the 
human mind ; and, utterly rejecting the systems of the old 
philosophers, examined the soul by attending to its operations. 
From the simple fact that all knowledge is progressive, and 
that an infant gains its ideas gradually through the medium 
of its senses, he drew the general conclusion, that there are 
no innate ideas in the mind, but that all are either imme- 
diate perceptions conveyed by the senses, or acts of the 



sect. 6/. MODERN HISTORY. ^71 

mind reflecting on those perceptions; a conclusion which 
has been obstinately controverted, chiefly by drawing from 
it false consequences, but which has never yet been shaken. 

7. The progress of literature in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries was equally remarkable with that of science 
and philosophy. Trissino was the first of the moderns who 
composed an epic poem in the language of his country, V Ita- 
lia Liberata da Goti, and the first Italian who wrote a regular 
tragedy, Sophonisha. Of merit much superior to the epic 
poem of Trissino is the Liisiad of the Portuguese Camoens, 
a work abounding with passages of high poetic beauty, and 
displaying a sublime imagination. In the end of the sixteenth 
century Spain produced the Jlraucana of Erciila, an epic 
poem of great inequality of merit, but frequently exhibiting 
novelty of figures and bold conceptions. The subject is a 
revolt of the Peruvians against the Spaniards. 

8. But the principal epic poems of this age are the Orlando 
Furioso of Ariosto, and the Gierusalemme Liberata of Tasso : 
the former a work most irregular in its plan, most unconnect- 
ed and desultory in its conduct, most extravagant and absurd 
in the characters of its persons, but displaying alternately 
every excellence of poetry in the various departments of the 
descriptive, comic, satiric, moral, and sublime. The Gierusa- 
lemme of Tasso, of a regular plan and perfect polish in its 
structure, has been frequently brought in comparison with 
the equally highly finished poem of the JEneid ; nor does the 
Italian suffer mueh in the comparison. There is a romantic 
charm both in the incidents and characters of his poem, 
which must ever render it a favourite with all readers of 
genuine taste. 

9. From the time of Tasso the genius of epic poetry lay 
dormant for a century, till the days of Milton ; for the Fairy 
Qjieen of Spenser is rather a romantic allegory than an epic 
poem. The Paradise Lost, compared with the great poems 
of antiquity, is more irregular and less perfect as a whole than 
the Iliad, JEneid, and Odyssey; but exhibits, in detached 
parts, more of the sublime and beautiful than any of them. 
It has been well remarked, that the inequality of this poem 
arises in a great measure from the nature of the subject, of 

z z 



37SS MODERN HISTORY. part ji. 

which some parts are the most lofty which can enter into the 
human mind, and others could only have been supported by a 
laborious elegance and polish, which the author's genius could 
not stoop to bestow. 

10. Lyric poetry was cultivated in the sixteenth century, 
in Italy, France, and England, but with no great success. 
The less poems of Ariosto and Tasso have no tincture of the 
genius displayed in their greater works. Chiabrera is perhaps 
the only lyric poet of this period that merits distinction. In 
France, Ronsard and Bellay imitated Petrarch with all his 
false wit, but without his passion. Marot, however, in the 
naivete and easy vein of his humour, is justly accounted the 
master of La Fontaine. In the beginning of the seventeenth 
century French versification received a considerable polish 
from the compositions of Raean, and yet more from those of 
Malherbe; and toward the end of that century lyric poetry 
was cultivated with high success by La Farre, Chapelle, and 
Baehaumont, Chaulieu, and Gresset. 

11. The English lyric poetry of the sixteenth century, of 
Spenser, Surrey, Harrington, Sydney, and even Shakspeare, 
is harsh and unharnionious ; nor is much improvement dis- 
cernible till the time of Cowley and Waller. The merit of 
Cowley as a lyric poet was too highly prized in his own age, 
and is underrated in ours. With all his false wit, pedantry, 
and obscurity, he is often both sublime and pathetic in no 
moderate degree. The lyric ode in the third book of the 
Davideis has few parallels in the English language. As a 
prose writer, Cowley shines in that age with superior excel- 
lence. Waller is more polished and harmonious than any of 
the preceding or cotemporary poets ; but his wit is quaint, and 
his elevation is too frequently bombast. 

12. In the end of the seventeenth century, Dryden carried 
lyrie poetry to perfection. His Ode on St. Cecilia's day sur- 
passes all the lyrie compositions both of ancient and modern 
times. He shines conspicuously as a satirist, possessing the 
keen and caustic wit, without the indelicacy, of Juvenal or 
Horace. His versions from Chaucer and Bocaccio are easy 
and spirited, and display a happy talent for poetical narra- 
tive* His numerous dramatic pieces, though exhibiting both 



sect. 67. MODERN HISTORY. S7§ 

invention and poetic beauty, are deficient in true passion, and 
in the just delineation of character. 

13. At the end of the sixteenth century the drama in Eu- 
rope began to furnish a rational entertainment. Lope de 
Vega and Calderona in Spain, and Shakspeare in England, 
produced those pieces, which, though irregular and stained 
with blemishes, are at this day the admiration of their coun- 
trymen. The Spanish plays of that age have been a rich 
mine for succeeding dramatists, both among the French, Ita- 
lians, and English. The merits of Shakspeare are familiar 
to every person of taste. Ignorant of the rules of his art, he 
is the pure child of nature, and thus exhibits often her capri- 
ces and absurdities ; but these faults are redeemed by the 
most transcendent beauties. The old English drama is, with 
all its irregularities, incomparably superior to the modern, 
both in touching the passions and in displaying just views of 
human character. The persons are more discriminated by 
various and appropriate features, and the nicer shades of 
nearly resembling characters are thus more distinctly mark- 
ed. The mixture of the comic and tragic in the same plot, 
though condemned by modern practice, is a great source of 
pleasure in the pieces of Shakspeare and his contemporaries; 
nor is such a mixture inconsonant to nature. To a person of 
true taste it will be found often to heighten, by contrast, the 
capital emotion to be excited. 

14. The compositions for the French stage, in the end of 
the seventeenth century, are strictly conformable to drama- 
tie rules; and many of those pieces are models of a correct 
and polished taste. The morality of the French drama of 
that age and the next is in general purer than ours ; but their 
pieces are deficient in the nice delineation of character and 
in the power of exciting the passions. Corneille and Racine 
brought the French tragedy to its highest elevation; as Mo- 
Mere the comedy. Corneiile has more grandeur and subli- 
mity than his rival, but less of the tender and pathetic. The 
comedies of Moliere, highly entertaining in the present time, 
were more particularly valuable in the age when they were 
written, and had a sensible effect in correcting its prevailing 
follies ; the pedantry of the ladies, the ignorance and quack- 



374 MODERN HISTORY. part ii. 

ery of the physicians, and the pride and arrogance of the 
French noblesse. The last of the eminent dramatists who 
adorned France in the seventeenth century was the elder 
Crebillon, who drew many sublime and impassioned scenes 
from the source of terror ; and who, in all his works, was as 
eminently the friend of virtue as his worthless son has been 
the pander of vice. 

15. The most eminent historians of the sixteenth century 
are, De Thou, Davila, and Machiavel. De Thou has written 
the annals of his own time, from 1545 to 1607, with great 
judgment, and in most elegant Latin composition. The his- 
tory of Davila, the Annals of the Civil Wars of France in the 
time of the league, though the work of a partizan, is compo- 
sed with no common degree of candour and impartiality. In 
the beginning of the sixteenth century Machiavel wrote his 
History of Florence, of which the style is classical and the 
matter well arranged, but too much interrupted by reflections 
and political discussions. In the seventeenth century Benti- 
voglio composed his History of the Civil Wars of Flanders, 
with the most accurate knowledge of his subject, perspicuity 
of narrative, and elegance of style. Among the English his- 
torians in the beginning of that period Raleigh is the most 
distinguished; though his History of {.he World is, in point 
of style, inferior to the judgment shown in the arrangement 
of the matter. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
Clarendon's History of the Rebellion is a work of the highest 
merit, whether we consider the authenticity of the facts, the 
deep knowledge of human nature displayed in the delineation 
of the characters, or the grave and manly eloquence of the 
style. If, in the opposition of political opinions, he has been 
deemed too partial in defence of his sovereign, even his adver- 
saries have admitted his perfect integrity, and entire convic* 
tion of the rectitude of the cause which he supports. 



END OF PART SECOND. 



APPENDIX. 



SECTION I. 

THE RELIGION OE THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. 

From Rett's Elements of General Knowledge. 

1. From the Egyptian and other nations, to whom the 
Greeks were indebted for their earliest laws, they derived 
their established religion. To the worship of the twelve prin- 
cipal divinities, the gratitude of succeeding ages added the 
deification of heroes, and legislators renowned for their im- 
portant services to society. Various degrees of adoration 
were paid to the Gods, and to the souls of departed heroes. 
Temples were erected, festivals were instituted, games were 
celebrated, and sacrifices were offered to them all, with 
more or less pomp and magnificence. A regular gradation of 
immortal beings was acknowledged to preside throughout 
universal nature, from the Naiad, who was adored as the 
tutelary guardian of a stream, to Jupiter, the Father of Gods 
and men, who ruled with supreme power over heaven and 
earth. 

2. The religion of the people extended little beyond the ex- 
ternal honours paid to the Gods of their country, and the atten- 
dance upon sacrifices and processions. The sacred ceremo- 
nies were magnificent and public, except that the votaries of 
Bacchus and Ceres were indulged in their secret mysteries. 
The festivals were observed with every circumstance of 
pomp and splendour to charm the eye, and please the imagi- 
nation. A sacrifice was a feast attended with gaiety, and 
even licentiousness. Every temple was the resort of the idle 
and the dissolute ; and the shrines of the Cyprian Venus, and 
the Athenian Minerva, could attest that devotion, far from 
being a pure and exalted exercise of the mind, was only the 



376 ARPEND1X. 

introduction to dissoluteness and debauchery. Athens was 
most renowned for the number of her stately edifices, and 
excelled the rest of the Grecian cities in the frequency and 
grandeur of her festivals. 

3. The northern regions of Greece were particularly re- 
nowned for temples, from whence oracles were issued. The 
temple of Apollo at Delphi, situated upon a lofty rock near 
Parnassus, and that of Jupiter in the groves of Dodona, were 
celebrated for the responses of the Pythia and the priests ; 
they were held in the greatest veneration for many ages ; and 
their oracles were consulted, even in the most enlightened 
times, by philosophers themselves, who, in this instance, as 
well as many others, conformed to the popular superstitions. 

*. The spirit of the religion of ancient Greece was included 
in these principles, that the worship of the Gods was of su- 
perior obligation and importance to all other duties, and that 
they frequently displayed their power in this world, in the 
punishment of the bad, and the prosperity of the virtuous. 
Such were the opinions inculcated by the most celebrated 
philosophers and poets. But the common people, more gra- 
tified by the fictions of the received mythology, than by tenets 
of pure ethics, found in the actions recorded of their gods 
and goddesses, a sufficient justification of every species of 
licentiousness, 

5. With respect to a Future Slate of existence, the philoso- 
phers appear to have fluctuated in uncertainty, as may be 
collected from the sentiments of Socrates himself. The poets 
Inculcated a belief in Tartarus and Elysium. Of the former 
they have drawn a picture in the most gloomy and horrific 
colours, where men, who had been remarkable for impiety to 
the Gods, such as Tantalus, Tityus, and Sisyphus, were tor- 
tured with a variety of misery, ingeniously adapted to their 
crimes. The prospect of Elysium is beautiful and inviting, 
as described by Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar. In that delight- 
ful region there is no inclement weather, but the soft Ze- 
phyrs blow from the ocean to refresh the inhabitants, who 
live without care or anxiety; there reign perpetual sunshine 
and serenity of sky, and the fertile earth thrice in a year pro- 
duces delicious fruits for their sustenance. These enjoy- 



APPENDIX. 377 

ments were however, not only of a gross and sensual nature, 
but were limited to persons of rank and distinction. Proteus 
informs Menelaus, that he shall be conveyed to the islands of 
the blessed, because he is the husband of Helen, and the son- 
in-law of Jupiter. Odyss. iv, 1. 56. No incentives to good- 
ness, from the consideration of a future state, are held out by 
the older poets to the female sex, or to the ignoble or vulgar, 
however pure their conduct, or exemplary their virtues. In 
later times we find that Pindar extends his rewards to good 
men in general; but Euripides is sometimes sceptical, and 
Jpbigenia without hesitation expresses her disbelief of the 
popular mythology. 

6. It is well remarked by the ingenious and learned Jortm f 
" That it gives us pleasure to trace in Homer the important 
doctrine of a supreme God, a providence, a free agency in 
man, supposed to be consistent with fate or destiny; a differ- 
ence between moral good and evil, inferior gods, or angels, 
some favourable to men, others malevolent ; and the immor- 
tality of the soul : but it gives us pain to find those notions so 
miserably corrupted, that they must have had a very weak 
influence to excite men to virtue, and to deter them from 
vice." Jortin, Dissertation vi, p. 245. This excellent obser- 
vation may be applied to the state of opinions even in the most 
enlightened times of Greece, when the credulity and igno- 
rance of the vulgar, and the errors and doubts of the greatest 
philosophers, proved the necessity and the importance of the 
Christian revelation, with respect both to the duties of man, 
and the incentives to the discharge of those duties, arising 
from his final destination. 

7. The characters of the two great legislators of Sparta 
and Athens were evidently very different. Lycurgus was dis- 
tinguished by the vigour and the inflexibility of his disposition. 
Solon was mild, circumspect, and compliant. The marks of 
their tempers were visibly impressed upon their respective 
political establishments. 

8. Rome at an early period called for the aid of religion, 
to give greater efficacy to her civil laws and military institu- 
tions. Numa lulled the infant kingdom into a short repose, 
in order to strengthen it hj his sacred establishments. (B. C. 



S7S APPENDIX- 

713. Liv. lib. i, c. 19, &e.) The attention paid to augury, 
which was at once the resource and the delusion of the Ro- 
mans, arose to the highest degree of superstition. Not only 
the departed heroes, who had been raised to the rank of divi- 
nity by the elegant fictions of Greece, as well as the gods of 
other nations, were naturalised ; but every virtue and vice, 
every art and profession, the deities of every grove and 
stream, derived a peculiar character from their respective 
votaries ; were represented by images, ornamented with pe- 
culiar symbols, and worshipped with appropriate rites. The 
excessive credulity of the populace, ever eager for accounts 
of prodigies and fables, was at .all times flattered by the ma- 
gistrates, and respected by the philosophers, who, however 
they might despise in secret the prevailing superstition, still 
assumed in public the mask of external reverence for the 
mythology of their country. The ceremonies of polytheism 
were in general of the most cheerful tendency ; processions 
to the temples, except in cases of public calamity, were social 
meetings of festivity ; and sacrifices to the gods were little 
more than the feasts of their worshippers. 

9. A scrupulous attention to religion was the peculiar boast 
and pride of the Romans. Cicero hesitates not to assert, 
that to their piety, and their firm belief in the over-ruling 
providence of the gods, they were indebted for their ascen- 
dancy over all other nations. (Cicero de Harusp. Responsis.) 
The establishment of pontiffs, flamens, augurs, and vestals, 
was supported by consecrated lands. As the civil and mi- 
litary departments were not deemed incompatible with the 
religious, even emperors, consuls, and generals aspired to, 
and exercised the offices of the priesthood. The union of re- 
ligion indeed with the civil government is a striking feature 
in the Roman policy. Augustus was sensible of its great im- 
portance ; and he, as well as succeeding emperors, sought to 
raise himself above the attacks of his enemies, and exalt the 
respectability of his character to the greatest elevation, by 
assuming the venerable title and inviolable dignity of the 
Pontifex Maximum. 



APPENDIX. 3 79 

SECTION II. 

OF THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE CITY OF HOME, AND THE 
WIBE EXTENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

(Kelt's Elements of General Knowledge, Vol. I.) 

1. The prospect of Rome, at the period of its greatest 
power, cannot fail to impress our minds with astonishment. 
At the time when the virtuous and warlike Trajan filled the 
imperial throne, the Romans had reached the summit of do- 
minion and magnificence. The metropolis of the empire and 
its suhurbs extending beyond the seven celebrated hills, were 
bounded by a circumference of fifty miles. More populous 
than Babylon, Nineveh, or Thebes, or any capital of modern 
Europe, the number of its inhabitants amounted to twelve 
hundred thousand.^ It abounded with mansions remarkable 
for height and spaciousness; it Avas interspersed with gardens 
and groves, and was decorated with every edifice, which could 
contribute either to the use or ornament of individuals, or of 
the public. Fountains, baths, aqueducts, bridges, markets, 
obelisks, squares, courts of justice, porticos, palaces, amphi- 
theatres, and temples, filled the august prospect. The tem- 
ple of Ops was enriched with the gold of subdued monarchs ; 
the rostra were decked with the naval spoils of a long succes- 
sion of ages ; and upon the lofty arches were described in the 
most exquisite sculpture, the various victories and splendid 
triumphs of the conquerors of the world. Among the public 
buildings were more particularly observed by the astonished 
spectator, the elegant forum of Trajan, the ample theatres 
of Marcellus and Pompey, the temple of Neptune, the wide 

* Upon the subject of the extent and the population of Rome there is an excel- 
lent note in Brotier's Tacitus, vol. ii, p. 473, 4to. edit. He states at large the 
data, upon which his calculation of the inhabitants proceeds. There is a curious 
dissertation upon this subject in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, 
torn, xxx, p. 191, by D'Anville. The only capital in the known world more po- 
pulous than ancient Rome is Pekin in China, which Du Halde reckons at three, 
millions ; and so does Sir George Staunton. 



380 APPENDIX. 

circumference of the Circus Maximus, the Capitol rearing its 
majestic structures above the Tarpeian Rock ; the Imperial 
Palace, from the magnificent portico of which the Emperor 
could overlook the whole city ; the temple of Apollo, distin- 
guished by the coloss statue of that deify, erected upon the 
Palatine Hill in the centre of the city ; and the dome of the 
sublime I antheon, eminent for its incomparable symmetry, 
and regular proportions. All these buildings presented the 
solid style of the Tuscan, or the more elegant orders of Gre- 
cian architecture; and were adorned with the most beautiful 
productions of painting and sculpture. Above these stately 
edifices arose a lofty pillar of white marble, exhibiting, in the 
most lively images of sculpture, the Dacian victories of Tra- 
jan, whose colossal figure crowned the summit. The extent, 
the variety, and the grandeur of these buildings proved, that 
this city was the residence of the masters of the world ; as 
the ingenuity, the productions, the arts, and the riches of all 
countries, conspired to aggrandize and embellish it. 

2. Twenty thousand select troops, either distinguished as 
regular patroles, or prfetorian cohorts, watched both night 
and day over the security of this populous and spacious city. 
To this seat of supreme power ambassadors were sent from 
the most remote regions, to lay the diadems of Kings at the 
feet of the Emperor. From hence marched the proconsuls, 
lieutenants, and prsetors, surrounded by numerous trains of 
attendants, and escorted by cohorts of foot and squadrons of 
horse, to take the command of their respective provinces. 
They travelled over straight and spacious roads, which inter- 
sected the empire in every direction, and which were so solid 
and durable, as to remain in many places unimpaired by the 
ravages of time, after the lapse of more than seventeen een- 
turies. # The ready communication between one province 
and another was equally secured by sea and by land; and the 
fleets, which anchored in the port of Ostia, were prepared to 
carry the imperial arms to the most distant coasts. Upon 
the banks of great rivers, such as the Rhine, the Danube, and 

* Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii, p. 250, Gibbon, vol. i, p. 51. Lumis- 
den, p. 86. Horsley's Britannia llomana, p. 520. 



APPENDIX. 381 

the Po, in the vicinity of populous cities, or on the frontiers of 
hostile nations, were stationed the camps of the legions. At 
the first alarm of insurrection they were ready to take the 
iield; no plot of the enemy could escape their vigilance, and 
no force was sufficient to repel their formidable onset. 

3. Many of the temperate and fertile countries, which now 
compose the most powerful kingdoms of Europe, were enrolled 
in the register of tributary states. The imperial eagle stretch- 
ed her wings over the fairest portions of the ancient world. 
The empire was extended more than two thousand miles in 
breadth, from the wall Antoninus in Britain, and the north- 
ern limits of Dacia, to Mount Atlas in the west of Africa, and 
reached in length more than three thousand miles, from the 
Western Ocean to -ie Euphrates. It was supposed to con- 
tain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the 
most part of fertile and well-cultivated land. It included 
Spain and Portugal, Gaul and Britain, Italy, Germany, Hun- 
gary, Transylvania, Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, the provin- 
ces of Asia Minor, Pontus, Bithynia, Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, 
and Palestine, Egypt, Mauritania, and Dacia. Most of these 
countries abounded with large and opulent cities, every one 
of which attested the progress and influence of the arts, as 
well as the dominion of the Romans, by the grandeur and va- 
riety of its public works. The population of the empire was 
equal to its extent, as it was reputed to contain not less than 
one hundred and twenty millions of subjects, a number far 
greater than was ever united under one European govern- 
ment, either before or after that period. 

4. If we consider the Modern World with reference to the 
Roman empire, even the dominions of the great Mogul, or 
the more extensive territories of the Grand Seignior, far as 
they are spread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, sink in compari- 
son with it. Russia in point of comparative population is a 
desert ; and China, with its myriads of inhabitants, with re- 
spect to martial energy, is a nation of effeminate slaves. 

5. Such is the sublime prospect of the metropolis, the naval 
and military force, and the extensive and formidable sove- 
reignty of ancient Rome in the meridian of her glory. A sur- 
vey so remarkable for the variety and the splendour of its 



3SS APPENDIX. 

objects, is the most distinguished which history has present- 
ed to the contemplation of man. It will appear the more 
extraordinary, if we contrast the empire, so extensive and 
flourishing under Trajan, with its parent state, consisting of 
a small colony of shepherds and adventurers, originally plant- 
ed by Romulus upon the banks of the Tiber, and forming one 
of forty-seven independent cantons, which altogether occupied 
a space of only fifty miles. B. C. 753. Ferguson's Roman 
Republic, c. i. 

6. But notwithstanding the external magnificence of the 
city of Rome, and the prodigious extent of the Roman em- 
pire, during the reign of Augustus and his immediate succes- 
sors, the manners of the people were gradually changing; 
the state contained within itself the causes of its own decay, 
and the poison of dissolution preyed upon its vitals; it became 
at length as abject and degraded as it had ever been great and 
powerful. The most extensive, powerful, and splendid empire 
in the world sunk into a humiliating condition ; and its down- 
fall may be attributed to the extinction of patriotism, the 
prevalence of luxury and vice, and the neglect of the ancient 
modes of education. 

See Rett's Elements of General Knowledge, vol. i, where the 
muses of the progress, grandeur, decline, and fall of the Ho~ 
man empire, are treated with perspicuity and elegance. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

From Pretyman's Elements of Christian Theology. 

Briefly as I have endeavoured to relate the History of the 
Jews, the period which commences with the close of the ancient 
Scriptures is so little known, that it may he useful to collect the 
principal facts under one point of view, for the purpose of 
showing more clearly the connection betwee7i the Old and JVcio 
Testaments ; and as the nature of the Jewish government ap- 
peal's to he very frequently misunderstood, I shall add a few 
observations upon that subject, which may serve to throw some 
light upon scripture history. 



APPENDIX, 38S 



SECTION III. 

THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE OLD 
TESTAMENT. 

1. The Jews had many revolutions of peace and war, and 
some changes in the mode of their government, from the time 
of their return from the Babylonian captivity, to their com- 
plete subjection to the Romans; but their sacerdotal govern- 
ment, as it is sometimes called, continued with little interrup- 
tion through this whole space of about six hundred years. 

2. Having returned into their own country, under the sanc- 
tion and by the authority of Cyrus, they acknowledged the 
sovereignty of the kings of Persia, till that empire was over- 
turned by Alexander the Great. After that event they be- 
came subject to his successors, first in Egypt, and afterward 
in Syria, till, having been deprived of their religious and civil 
liberties for three years and a half by Antiochus Epiphanes,, 
they were restored, both to the exercise of their religion and 
to their aneient independence, by the piety and bravery of 
Mattathias and his descendants. Under these Maecabsean 
princes (as they were styled) they became a free state, sup- 
ported by good troops, strong garrisons, and alliances not only 
with neighbouring powers, but with remote kingdoms, even 
Rome itself. 

3. This glory of the Jews was but of short duration; for 
though the decline of the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria pre- 
vented their interference in the affairs of other states, yet the 
entire ruin of these two kingdoms, by the great accession of 
power which it brought to the Romans, paved the way for the 
destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. Pompey compelled 
the Jews to submit to the arms of Rome, and from that time 
their country was tributary to the Romans, though it was still 
governed by Maceabsean princes. The last of that family was 
conquered and deposed by Herod the Great, an Idumrean hj 
birth, but of the Jewish religion, who had been appointed 



384 APPENDIX. 

king of the Jews by the Romans, and enjoyed a long reign over 
the whole of Palestine, in the course of which he greatly di- 
minished the civil power of the high-priest. He was succeed- 
ed in the government of the greater part of Palestine, by his 
son Arehelaus, whose misconduct caused Augustus to banish 
Lim, and to reduce his dominions into the form of a Roman 
province ; and thus it appears, that, with the exception of the 
short predicted tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, the kingdom 
of Judah, for some time independent, but generally tributary, 
continued to enjoy its own religion, and the form of its civil 
government, till after the death of the Messiah. 

i. During our Saviour's ministry the Jews were permitted 
to perform their religious worship without restraint or moles- 
tation; but Judasa and Samaria were then governed by a Ro- 
man procurator, who had power of life and death, and Galilee 
was governed under the authority of the Romans, by Herod 
Antipas, a son of Herod the Great, with the name of Tetrarch. 
These circumstances of humiliation were far from producing 
contrition and amendment in the Jews. Having neglected all 
the means of repentance graciously afforded them, and at last 
filled up the measure of their aggravated wickedness, by the 
rejection and crucifixion of their "Lord and King," they 
brought upon themselves the utter destruction of their na* 
tional polity, and have now continued in a state of punishment 
laore than seventeen hundred years. 



SECTION IV. 

OE THE JEWISH GOVERNMENT* 

1. With respect to the nature of the Jewish government^ 
Which seems to be very improperly called republican, we may 
observe, that it partook of the patriarchal form, as much as 
was consistent with the condition and circumstances of a na- 
tion ; and this accounts for our being left to- form our opinion 
upon this subject from facts and commands incidentally men- 
tioned, rather than from a detailed relation of the different 
powers and ranks in the state in their regular order* The 



APPENDIX. 383 

Israelites had preserved the patriarchal mode of life and rules 
of government during their residence, nay, even during their 
bondage, in Egypt. (Exodus iii. 16. xxiv. 1, 11.) Those pa- 
triarchal laws and customs, therefore, being already estab- 
lished, no particular direction respecting subordination was 
necessary. Ancient institutions, which harmonized with the 
Mosaic dispensation, were continued, and others were added, 
to complete a system for the peculiar government of this pe- 
culiar people; and I think it will be found, that Scripture 
affords more information upon this subject than is generally 
imagined. 

2. Three degrees of judges or judicators are distinctly 
mentioned in the twenty-fourth chapter of Joshua : " And 
Joshua called (first) for the elders of Israel;" these were the 
" elders of the whole people," or "of the congregation" — the 
great national council* established by Moses, and in after 
times called the great sanhedrim, consisting of seventy per- 
sons, both priests and laymen, beside the president, who, 
after the time of Moses, was usually the high priest; "and 
(secondly) for their heads," these were the heads or "princes 
of the twelve tribes," in whom was vested a peculiar and su 
preme authority over each tribe, as their chief magistrate 
and leader in time of war, subject however to the control of 
the great council, of which they formed a part ;f and (thirdly) 
for their judges ; "these were the elders or rulers of cities,"f 
whose jurisdiction was confined to the limits and liberties of 
their respective cities, and was subject to the great council. 

3. The Jewish writers say, that in " every city, which had 
six score families in it, there was a lesser sanhedrim, or court 
of judicature, consisting of twenty-three judges;" and our 
Saviour is supposed to allude to these two courts in his Ser- 
mon upon the Mount. § Many examples of these and other 
less distinctions are to be found in Scripture. 

* Numbers xi. 16. xxxiv. 16, 17. 

f Deut. xvii. 8, 14. Numb. i. 4, 16. Josh, xxiii, 1, 2. xxiv. 1. Numb. xxx„ 
I. xxxi. 13, vii. 1,2, 3.x. 14. Josh. ix. 15. xxii. 14- xix. 47. Jer. xxxvi. 11. 
xxxvii. 14, 15. xxxviii. 4, 5. Matthew xix. 28. 

* Deut. xvi. 18. xxi. 1, &c. xix. 12. xxi. 3, 19. 2 Kings x. 1, 5. Acts xvii. 8, 
Ruth, iv, 12. 1 Chron. xxvi. 29. 

§ Matt. v. 22. Vide also Deut. xvi. 18. xvii, 8, 10, 11, 12. Ezra, x, 8, 14, 



386 APPENDIX. 

4. The " rulers of the thousands of Israel," the " rulers 
of hundreds — of fifties— and of tens," appear to have been 
military distinctions; but beside the princes of the twelve 
tribes, who were the eldest branch by liueal descent, there 
were " heads of families," who represented the other sons 
and grandsons of Die twelve sons of Jacob, and were next to 
the princes of the tribes in rank and importance.* These 
seem to have had a superintending, but not a judiciary, pow- 
er.f It is supposed these " heads of families," or " chiefs 
of the fathers of Israel," preserved their authority during 
the Babylonian captivity, when the dispersion of the people 
into so many different parts of the empire of Babylon natu- 
rally increased their importance; and we find them afterward 
very active in assisting Ezra andNehemiah in the settlement 
of the people in Judjea. These families were again subdi- 
vided into "households;" (Jos. vii. 1 Sam. x. 20.) so that 
there evidently appears to have been a regular subordination 
established in their civil and religious polity, all the degrees 
of which were alike subject to a code of divine laws, and to 
the especial government of " God their King." 

5. When it is said in the book of Judges, " at that time 
there was no king in Israel," (C. xxi. 25.) we are to under- 
stand that there was no chief ruler or magistrate, like Moses 
or Joshua. There was indeed a high priest,:): and there were 
also elders ;§ but there was not then a sufficient power lodged 
in any one person to control and keep the people in order, by 
punishing public offences and private wrongs, so that " every 
man did that which was right in his own eyes." The great 
council had hitherto acted as assistants to Moses and Joshua, 
and probably was not yet considered as designed to be the 
supreme authority under God their King. We have indeed 
reason to suppose that, the general depravity which prevailed 
in the nation, after the death of the generation who had been 
contemporary with Josliua,|| had tainted the council itself, and 
had deprived its members of the gift of inspiration, with 

•Josh.xxi. 1. 1 Chron. viii. 28. Numb.xxvi. 

| 2 Chron, xix. 8. Ezra i. 5. 

$ Judges xx.28. § Judges xxi, 16. || Judges ii. 7, 13. 



APPENDIX. 387 

which the elders had been favoured on its first establishment.* 
From the address of Abimelech to the people,! and from some 
other passages, we may even suppose that the institution it- 
self was perverted, for the council seems to have been then 
made up wholly of the family of Gideon, instead of the repre- 
sentatives of the twelve tribes, and members chosen accord- 
ing to the directions originally given. 

6. The people themselves appear to have been very sensible 
of the miseries arising from such a state of anarchy ; for when 
God was pleased to raise up judges to deliver them from the 
power of the neighbouring nations, to which they were sub- 
jected as punishments for their wickedness, we find them de- 
sirous of making them kings:}: to secure a succession of chief 
civil magistrates as well as military leaders. As the func- 
tions of all ordinary magistrates among the Romans were 
superseded by the authority of a dictator, so were all Hebrew 
magistrates subject to the control of a judge, who was spe- 
cially appointed by God;§ and in the time of the Jewish 
kings this whole system of administrative justice was fre- 
quently interrupted: but it cannot escape the observation of 
the attentive reader of the Jewish history, that the periods 
most marked by violence and crimes were precisely those, 
when these constituted authorities were from various causes 
suffered to sink into inaction. We find, however, that Jeho- 
shaphat was anxious to revive the power of the inferior courts 
of judicature,!! and the council seems to have possessed great 
influence in the time of Jeremiah.ff After the. return from 
tin Babylonian captivity, when " the people were settled as 
of old,"** the supreme power was again lodged in the 
great council or sanhedrim, which, as we have seen, conti- 
nued to exercise its judicial office, till the national polity was 
totally destroyed by the Romans. 

* Numbers xi. 16, 30. f Judges ix. 2. 

* Judges viii. 22, 23. ix.2, 6, 57. x. 11. 

§ 1 Sam. vii. 16. || 2 Chron. xix. 5, 6, &c. 

1f Jer, xxxvi, xxxvii, and xxxviii. 
» * Isaiah i. 6. Ezra vii. 25. x. 7, 14. 

3 is 



3S§ 



APPENDIX. 



I 



SECTION Y. 

01? THE CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES OE AMERICA, 

Chiefly by Joseph Priestley, LL. D., F. R. $., &c. 

1. The United States of North America consist at present 
of eighteen separate states, each of which has a separate con- 
stitution of its own formation; but for the sake of an union of 
their strength, and other important purposes, they agreed to 
form a constitution that shall comprehend them all ; and to 
this, with the limitations expressly defined, they are all sub- 
ject. 

2. The most fundamental article in every form of govern- 
ment is the legislative branch of it, that which has the power 
of making all the laws and regulations to which the whole 
community must be subject. This branch, in the United 
States, consists of three parts, a President, a Senate, and a 
House of Representatives ; which is similar to that of Eng- 
land, as governed by king, lords, and commons. 

The senate and the house of representatives are jointly 
called the Congress, and this must be assembled at least once 
every year. 

3. The President must not be under thirty-five years of 
age, and at the time of his election must have resided in the 
country fourteen years. He is chosen by the people at large, 
not, however, immediately, but by the intervention of elec- 
tors, who must be chosen in the methods prescribed in the 
laws of the separate states. The day for chusing the electors 
is appointed by the legislatures of the separate states, and 
must be before a certain day fixed by the Congress ; but need 
not be the same in all the states. 

4. The person who has the greatest number of the votes 
of the electors for the ofiice of President, is the President, 
provided that number be a majority of all their votes. If two 
or more candidates have the same number of votes, then the 
house of representatives must chuse one of them by ballot. 
In this case, if no candidate has a majority of votes, the 
house may chuse out of five persons who have the greatest 



APPENDIX. 389 

numbers of votes on the list of the electors. But then the 
house must take the votes by states, each of which has only 
one vote; and a majority of the states is necessary to the 
choice of any of the candidates. If the votes by states in the 
house of representatives should happen to be equal, then the 
senate must chuse a President by ballot. 

A Vice-president is elected in the same manner, and takes 
the place of the President, in case of his death or incapacity. 

The President thus chosen holds his office for four years* 
but may be re-elected without any limitation ; so that he may 
hold the office for life. 

5. As a member of the legislative body, the President has 
only a limited negative on the resolutions of Congress. If he 
disapprove any bill that is presented to him, after it has re- 
ceived the concurrence of both houses, he must give his objec- 
tions to it ; and if two thirds of each house still abide by their 
first vote, the bill passes into a law, notwithstanding his rejec- 
tion of it. Consequently, if it be not adopted by two thirds of 
each of the houses, though there should be a great majority 
of the members for it, the bill will not be a law ; and cases 
may occur in which to do nothing at all would be a sensible 
inconvenience. 

6. The President receives foreign ambassadors, and nomi- 
nates to all the public offices ; but his appointments must have 
the concurrence of two thirds of the senate. In this case 
also, if two thirds of the senate do not agree to confirm an 
appointment, none can be made. 

The president has the power of pardoning any criminals, 
except such as have been impeached by the house of repre- 
sentatives. He has also the power of making treaties with 
foreign states, with the concurrence of two thirds of the senate. 

7. The president is not bound to consult with any council 
of state, but takes the whole responsibility of his measures 
upon himself. He may require the opinion of any of the 
heads of the several departments of government, respecting 
any thing that comes under their cognizance. 

The heads of the departments of government are the Se- 
cretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary 
of War, and the Secretary of the Navy. 



390 APPEXDIX- 

8. The senate consists of two members from each of the 
separate states, chosen by the legislatures of each state, to 
serve for six years; but one third of the number must be 
changed every two years. Every senator must he at least 
thirty years of age, and must have been a citizen of the 
United States nine years. 

The senate tries all persons impeached by the house of re- 
presentatives; but they can only punish by deprivation of of- 
fice, or disqualification in future; and tiie conviction must be 
by the votes of two thirds of the members present at the 
trial. 

The Vice-president presides in the senate, but cannot vote 
on any question, except in case of an equal division of the 
votes of the other members. 

9. The members of the house of representatives must be 
twenty-five years of age, and have been citizens seven years. 
They are chosen by the people at large every two years. All 
persons who are qualified to vote for members of the legisla- 
tures of the separate state, are also qualified to vote for mem- 
bers of congress. 

The number of the representative body varies according to 
the number of the separate states, and the population of each 
state. For this purpose an enumeration of all the people in 
the United States must be made every ten years, and the. 
number of the representatives must not exceed one for thirty- 
three thousand; but every state shall at least have one repre- 
sentative. 

10. No member of congress can be appointed to any civil 
office, nor can any person holding such an office be a member 
of congress. 

11. The house of representatives have the sole power of 
proposing all laws and regulations relating to the public re- 
venue of the United States; and likewise the sole power of 
impeaching any of the public officers of government for 
crimes and misdemeanours in the discharge of the func- 
tions of their respective offices. 

12. The whole of the legislative body, consisting of the 
President and congress, can alone levy taxes, and provide for 
the common defence. They alone can make peace or war, 



APPENDIX. > 391 

and regulate commerce, either with foreign states, or the In- 
dian tribes. They also determine every thing relating to i he 
coinage of money, and establish posts and post-roads. But 
though they raise and support armies and navies, yet no ap- 
propriation of money for that purpose can be for a longer term 
than two years. 

13. All the members of the legislative body receive salaries 
for their services, which are fixed by law. At present the 
President receives twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, 
the Vice-president five thousand, and each of the senators 
and representatives six dollars per day. 

14. The United States guarantee to all the separate states 
a republican form of government. But the congress cannot 
exercise any power not especially granted to them by the se- 
parate states, from which they derive all their power. 

15. The judiciary power of the United States is vested by 
the constitution in a supreme court, and such inferior courts 
as the congress from time to time shall appoint; and all the 
judges hold their offices during their good behaviour. 

16. In this manner is provision made for the political liberty 
of all the citizens of the United States, all of whom, without 
any regard to property, are eligible to any civil office, even 
that of president ; and whatever be the abuse of power, they 
may correct it after a short period. 

With respect to civil liberty, or the rights of individuals, 
(to guard which is the great object of political liberty) every 
thing most valuable in the English constitution is preserved, 
and effectually guarded. 

17. In this country the congress has no power to give any 
title of nobility, nor any exclusive privilege, except patents 
for a limited time, to those who make inventions and improve- 
ments in the arts. There is also no general establishment of 
any system of religion, nor do the professors of any religious 
denomination enjoy any exclusive privileges. Consequently 
every person is at full liberty to make the best use that he 
can of all his faculties. 

18. For every alleged offence a man must be tried by a jury 
of his equals, and the writ of habeas corpus, in consequence 
of which every accused person must be brought to a speedy 



392 APPENDIX. 

trial, cannot be suspended except in case of actual rebellion, 
or invasion. The freedom of speech and of the press is de- 
clared to be inviolable ,- but if any person receive injury from 
either, he may seek redress by law. 

19. The crime of high treason cannot be extended beyond 
the case of actually levying war against the state, or adhering 
to the enemies of if. 

20. The citizens of each of the separate states are intitled 
to all the privileges of the citizens of the other states. 

21. The natives of all countries which are not at war with 
the United States, are permitted by law to reside or settle in 
any part of their dominions. 

No alteration can be made hj congress with respect to emi- 
gration, or the admission of strangers, before the year 1808 ; 
nor can a tax be imposed for their admission exceeding ten 
dollars for each person. 

22. Notwithstanding the great attention that was given to 
the formation of this constitution, it was not supposed to be 
incapable of improvement. Accordingly it was provided that 
two thirds of the house of congress may at any time propose 
amendments of it; and on the application of two thirds of the 
separate states, they must call a convention to decide con- 
cerning the amendments proposed, and these must afterward 
have the sanction of two thirds of the states. 

23. The great excellence of this constitution consists in 
the simplicity of its object, which is the security of each in- 
dividual in the enjoyment of his natural rights, without aim- 
ing at much positive advantage ; by which means every per- 
son, knowing that he will be effectually protected from vio- 
lence and injustice, both against the evil-minded of his fellow 
citizens, and the enemies of his nation, will be at full liberty 
to employ all his faculties for his own advantage. 

The power of the whole community may be easily united 
in works of acknowledged public utility, as roads, bridges, 
and navigable canals ; and also in providing the means of edu- 
cation, of which all the citizens may take advantage. 

The history of all the European governments shows that 
there is no wisdom in any government aiming at more than 
this. If it be empowered to teach religion, and to provide a 



APPENDIX. 393 

religious creed for all the citizens, it may as well provide a 
philosophical creed, and fix an unalterable mode of instruc- 
tion in any of the arts of life ; the consequence of which would 
be an effectual stop to all improvements. For every improve- 
ment, being suggested by individuals, would be opposed by the 
more ignorant and bigoted majority, educated in the old im- 
perfect methods. 

24. The mode of choosing the President and Vice-president 
by electors leaves the choice to those who are better qualified 
to judge than the greater number by whom the electors are 
chosen. At the same time the electors, being few, are under 
a greater degree of responsibility. All history shows that the 
more numerous is the body which decides upon any thing, the 
more hasty, intemperate, and injudicious are their resold 
tions. In a multitude they are but few who really think and 
judge for themselves ; consequently many are guided hy a few 
who do think ; but those being under no particular respon- 
sibility, are often influenced by their private views to mislead 
the rest. 

25. It is objected to the constitution of the senate, that the 
members are not chosen hj the people at large, that they are 
too few, and that they continue in office too long; in conse- 
quence of which they are too independent of the people, and 
more easily gained by the President. 

On the of her hand, there is certainly a great advantage in a 
set of men of greater age, and experience, not chosen by the 
common people, and who continue a considerable time in of- 
fice, to be a check upon those who are chosen at shorter pe- 
riods, and who are therefore apt to be unreasonably impressed 
by temporary and local circumstances, so as to make hasty and 
improper resolutions, 

26. One use of a senate, in which every question may be 
discussed independently of the house of representatives, 
is, no doubt, the opportunity which it affords of reconsider- 
ing every subject, and thereby preventing hasty resolutions. 
But this, which might be provided for many ways without 
another house, is not the only use of it. Another, and of 
equal importance, is derived from viewing it with different 
eyes and in different lights; which could not be done by the 
very same body of men, bearing exactly the same relation to 



394 APPENDIX. 

their fellow citizens, though having the same general interest 
with them. 

27. It is also objected, that the small states send to congress 
the same number of senators as the largest. But this was 
found to be a necessary compromise, to induce those small 
states to join the union. If the number sent by each state was 
three, instead of two, the objection would be in a great mea- 
sure answered ; for in this case the greater states would have 
a greater majority of senators. 

28. The election of the representatives every two years, 
and not annually, has the advantages of making them, 
in a small and useful degree, independent of the great mass 
of the people, whose good opinion was necessary to their re- 
election. In this situation were the elections annual, they 
might be tempted to act in their legislative capacity in a man- 
ner that they did not really approve, but which they knew 
would be more pleasing to their constituents. These being 
numerous, and little informed, are subject to improper influ- 
ence, looking more to their immediate than to their remote 
and permanent interest. Hence it may admit of a doubt whe- 
ther a triennial would not be preferable to a biennial election. 

29. As the president and two thirds of the senate have the 
power of making treaties, and nothing is said of the limitation 
of that power, they have claimed, and exercised, the power of 
making treaties to regulate commerce, a power which is ex- 
pressly confined to the whole congress; and on the same pre- 
tence they might make treaties offensive and defensive with 
foreign nations, and thus involve the country in a war. 

30. It may admit of a doubt whether it be wise to have 
it possible that any man should hold the important office 
of president for life, in consequence of a constant re-election; 
because, in those circumstances, it will be his interest to fill 
places of trust and power rather with such persons as will 
serve him in his ambitious views, than with those best quali- 
fied to discharge the duties of the office. On the other hand, 
there is a disadvantage in frequent changes of the president, 
on account of a possible change of general maxims, and views 
in government, which would be attended with inconvenience 
both with respect to the citizens at home, and in transactions 
with foreign nations. 



APPENDIX. 



A COMPENDIOUS VIEW 



OF THE 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH- 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The following concise Sketch of the Corruptions of Christi- 
anity, and of the Mise and Progress of the Reformation, has 
been abridged, by permission, from the Letters from Europe, 
written by Joseph Sansom, Esq, in the year 1802, shortly 
after the political annihilation of the Papacy, in the person 
of Pius VI. 

The events of sacred history, since the days of the Apostles, 
are but little knoivn in America; and cannot fail to excite the 
curiosity of all who sincerely profess the Christian faith. 
This interesting branch of history commemorates the most 
momentous event that has occurred since the creation of the 
world; an event which determines the future destiny of the 
whole human race! Surely then every rational being will be 
desirous to know by what extraordinary means this grand 
rule of faith and practice has abolished the splendid mytha- 

a 



(I ADVERTISEMENT. 

logy of the ancient Pagans of Greece and Home, and is now 
firmly established in all the more civilized nations of the 
earth. 

The author has drawn the earlier facts from Mosheim's Ec- 
clesiastical History, and the latter from Neale's History of 
the Puritans; and has compared his leading authorities with 
the histories of the Reformation, the writings of the Fathers, 
and the inspired productions of the Prophets and Evangelists. 

The reader will observe that a brief account of the first ages of 
Christianity, and also of the Crusades, and the Reformation 
of religion, has been already given by Mr. Tytler, in his Ele- 
ments of History. To preserve the connexion of all the parts 
of this essay, it ivas deemed expedient to retain the following 
relation of the same transactions and occurrences, which, 
though partly a repetition of the former, is somewhat more 
particular, and does not occupy much space. Pains have 
been taken to condense the narrative, and to reduce it to a 
small compass, with the design of rendering it more conve- 
nient to students. 



APPENDIX. 



SECTION I. 

OF THE CORRUPTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY. 

Rome, if not the birtk-plaee, may be considered as the nur- 
sery of Christianity, in which the doctrines of its founder 
were promulgated by the companions of his sufferings and 
the witnesses of his resurrection. Every thing here calls 
to mind the religion of Jesus. The churches, and even the 
palaces, abound with correct representations of sacred histo- 
ry; the self-denial and humility of the monastic orders are 
indications of primitive simplicity; and the life and conversa- 
tion of the Son of God are perpetually recalled, by a round of 
imitative ceremonies, which, together with the essential 
transactions of his birth and death, renew to the eye, the occa- 
sional circumstances of appearing before Pilate, or washing 
his disciples 9 feet. The Angel of the church has not yet lost 
all his original brightness: 

" Nor appears less than archangel ruin'd. 
And the excess of glory obscur'd," 

( A secret reformation of life and manners has taken place, 
even at Rome, since the rise and establishment of the Protes- 
tant professions; and the important variation has been ob- 
served to obtain, in Catholic countries, in proportion as they 
communicate with the reformed. 

The Saviour of the world was born in a province of the 
Roman empire, and was crucified without the gates of Jerusa- 
lem, under the authority of Pontius Pilate, the governc of Ju. 
dea, as we learn from Tacitus, as well as from the united testi- 
mony of the four Evangelists. Jluctor no minis ejus Christus f 
qui, Tibe rio imperil ante, per procuratorem Pentium Pilatum> 



i v CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

supplicio affectus erat. Tacitus. JLnnal. 15. S. 44. The name 
[Christians] was derived from Christ, who suffered death in 
the reign of Tiberius, under Pontius Pilate, the procurator 
of Judea. 

[Among the most zealous and distinguished of the diseiples 
of Jesus, was Stephen, who was the first martyr in the cause 
of the gospel. Immediately after his death there began a se- 
vere persecution of the whole church at Jerusalem. 

During the first eight years after the ascension of Christ, 
the preaching of the apostles and others was confined to the 
Jews, among whom were some Gentile converts; and in the 
space of 30 years after the ascension, Christian churches, 
consisting both of Jewish and Gentile converts, were founded 
in Greece, Italy, Syria, in several countries of Asia Minor, 
and in the islands of Cyprus and Crete.] 

After the dissemination of the gospel, and the settlement 
of the churches, so eloquently described by St. Luke in his 
narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, in the sixty-fourth year 
of Christ the emperor Nero fomented against the Christians, 
throughout the Roman empire (which then included the 
greater part of the civilized world) the first general persecu- 
tion, in which suffered martyrdom, at Rome, the Apostles 
St. Peter and St. Paul. This affliction terminated with the 
untimely death of the tyrant Nero; and it was not till the 
ninety-third year of the Christian era, that the second per- 
secution, Avhich also involved the Jews, was instigated by the 
jealousy of the emperor Domitian, who was weak enough to 
dread the rivalry of the house of David; though, as had been 
foretold by the prophets, it had ceased to sit upon the throne 
of Israel. During this persecution the Apostle John, who 
had so long survived his Lord, was banished to the isle of 
Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. 

The Canonical books of the New Testament are supposed to 
have received the sanction of the church, before the death of St. 
John, who departed this life at the venerable age of a hundred, 
or, as some say, a hundred and twenty years; and Clemens 
Romanus; then bishop of Rome, who afterward sealed with his 
blood the testimony of Jesus, was particularly instrumental 
in the collection of the sacred records. 



APPENDIX. V 

Very soon after the removal of the last of the Apostles, 
those national councils began to be held in Greece, which, by 
reducing the privileges of the people, and augmenting the au- 
thority of the priests, gave rise to that overbearing prescrip- 
tion, which afterward absorbed the independence of the 
churches, and made way for the introduction of an antichris- 
tian hierarchy. 

It appears by Paul's Epistles, and by the Revelation of 
John, that heresies and disputes had troubled the church, 
even in the age of the Apostles.* Separate associations were 
established among the believers, within the first century of 
Christianity; the practice of fasting had been early superad- 
ded to the precepts of Christ; and it was not long before the 
ehurch was divided into two sects, who peculiarly adhered to 
the ceremonies of the law, or the simplicity of the gospel. 
Both parties however were zealous toward God, and suffered 
indiscriminately as confessors of Christ, the persecution of 
the Heathen Magistrates, who had now become jealous for 
the honour of their discredited divinities. 

In the second century, the splendid era of the reigns of 
Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines, prevailed with unrelent- 
ing rigour, the third, fourth, and fifth persecutions; during 
which Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was conveyed to Rome, 
and exposed to wild beasts in the public theatre; and Poly- 
carp, bishop of Smyrna, was cruelly slain. Notwithstanding 
these persecutions, Christianity appears to have flourished ia 
the second century, since churches were then established in 
the western provinces of the empire; and several philosophers 
and men of learning had embraced the faith of Christ. The 
sixth persecution happened in the beginning of the third cen- 
tury, under the emperor Severus, though the cause of the 
Christians was now ably defended by Tertullian, Origen, and 
Irenseus. 

A sect of ascetics had already begun to spread in Egypt; 
though they did not yet form themselves into those regular 
communities, by which the Christian world was afterward 

* Galatians i. 6. & iix. 1—3. Revelation ii. 1—29. iii. 1—19. 






v j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

overrun. They introduced the system of voluntary mortifica- 
tions, by denying themselves the use of wine, of flesh, #nd 
even the exercise of the lawful rights of commerce and ma- 
trimony. At Rome ceremonious observances were early intro- 
duced under the specious pretence of alluring the Jews, and 
even the Pagans, to the profession of Christianity, by the 
adoption of some of their rites; and, before the end of the se- 
cond century, the simplicity of gospel worship had been adul- 
terated with anniversary festivals, and officiating garments; 
the payment of tithes had succeeded to the voluntary contri- 
butions of the faithful; and the love-feast of the Communion 
was converted into the sacrifice of the Mass. 

Early in the third century churches were established in 
Transalpine Gaul, and the forests of Germany. But a se- 
venth persecution arose under the emperor Maximin, which 
was followed by the eighth, under Decius, Gallus, and Volu- 
sianus, as was that by the ninth, under the unfortunate Vale- 
rian. Yet before the tenth and last persecution under the 
magnificent Diocletian,* the church had become powerful, 
and even splendid. Edifices had been erected for public wor- 
ship, embellished with painting and mosaics. Vessels of sil- 
ver and gold were used in the pompous celebration of the 
sacraments; and the dignified clergy, among whom the bi- 
shops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, had obtained the 
pre-eminency of their brethren, in the sacerdotal office, had 
appropriated to the episcopal functions, the use of canopies 
and thrones. The clergy were not yet however forbidden to 
marry; though abstinence was already respected as a clerical 
virtue. 

The Diocletian persecution, which had been suggested by 
the priests of p dytheism upon malicious charges of disloyal- 
ty and seditions, not improbably provoked by the ostentatious 
presumption of the Christian bishops (among whom, however, 
the life of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, appears to have 
adorned the doctrine of the gospel), began in the year 303; and 

* He is said to have employed forty thousand Christians in the con- 
struction of those baths, whose incredible extent is now occupied by the cells 
and gardens of a Carthusian convent. 






APPENDIX. Vli 

continued to rage, with different degrees of inveteracy, under 
the emperors Galerius and Maximin, until, in the year 313* 
Constantine, surnamed the Great, having been invested with 
the imperial purple by the legions of Britain, overthrew his 
rival Maxentius upon the banks of the Tiber, under the influ- 
ence of a pretended vision of the cross; and, from motives of 
policy, or conviction, embraced the profession of Christianity; 
which had become in three centuries, and under ten perseeu- 
eutions. the prevailing religion of the Roman empire. The 
emperor's conversion was not however promulgated by laws 
and edicts, till the year 324; and it was not until the latter 
end of his life and reign, that the political proselyte thought 
proper to prohibit heathen sacrifices, and to shut up the tem- 
ples of the gods. Constantine did not submit to receive the 
rite of baptism, till a few days before his death, in 337; and 
his equivocal faith may be fairly presumed from the absence 
of the cross, in all the statues and bas reliefs, that have yet 
been discovered, of the first Christian emperor. Theodosius 
the Elder is the first of his successors whose ambiguous piety 
the church has thought proper to celebrate. Nor was it till 
the reign of Honorius, and the opening of the fifth century, 
that the profession of Christianity, adopted by the emperors, 
was finally embraced throughout the empire; which tardily 
relinquished the worship of its idols. 

But the impending corruption of Christianity awaited not 
its complete introduction. Father Antony in Egypt, and in 
France Martin of Tours, had formed regular communities., 
and prescribed fixed rules for that abstinence and seclusion, 
which had been already observed by solitary hermits, and se- 
questered virgins; who. conceiving that communion with God 
was to be obtained by withdrawing the mind from external 
objects, began their noviciate by mortifying the senses, and 
macerating the body with hunger and fatigue. The provin- 
ces of the east were soon filled with these speculative profes- 
sors; their arid climate predisposing them to temperance and 
contemplation. Monastic institutions were peopled in the 
west, with equal ardour and devotion; and their indulgent in- 
habitants were long accused of voraciousness and gluttony by 



Viii CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

the eastern visionaries. On the other hand, at the council of 
Nice, at which appeared ecclesiastical delegates from all the 
churches in Christendom, the noviciate emperor presided in 
person,* and the innovating bishops, not content with excluding 
the people from all share in the administration of ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs, now boldly encroached upon the authority of the 
presbyters, who appear to have been thenceforward little 
more than humble ministers to the arrogance and luxury of 
their lordly superiors. 

Pictures were not yet common in churches, and. statues 
were unknown; but the names of departed saints were already 
venerated The antiquated practice of Christian perfection 
was relinquished for the vain hope of future penance and pu- 
rification; and the duties of social life were commuted for idle 
visits to the tombs of the martyrs, and vagrant pilgrimages 
to the Holy Land. Baptismal fonts were now set up in the 
poreh of every church; and the bread and wine of the Com- 
munion began to be held up for the veneration of the people. 

In the fourth century, however, flourished Eusebius, the 
historian, bishop of Csesarea; Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in 
Africa; Ambrose, bishop of Milan; and Jerome, the monk of 
Palestine, to whose labours we are indebted for the Latin 
translation of the scriptures, which has been chiefly followed 
by the pious divines who have transfused the glad tidings of 
the gospel into the languages of modern Europe. 

The fifth century, together with an indiscriminate recep- 
tion of proselytes (from policy or conviction), adopted without 
reserve, the heathen custom of ornamenting temples with paint- 
ing and statuary; the embroidering of sacerdotal garments 
with gold and silver; and the institution of novel and ostenta- 
tious ceremonies. Heathen ideas were now imbibed concern- 
ing departed souls, heroes, demons, &c; and the absolvatory 
penance of grievous sinners, originally made before the con- 
gregation, was commuted with courtly indulgence, by Leo the 
Great, for private confession in the presence of a priest. 

The second general council, that of Constantinople, which 
had established the doctrine of the trinity in the year 381, 
was followed by the council of Ephesus, convened by TheooV 



APPENDIX. IX 

sins the Younger, to determine a dispute between Nestorius 
and Cyril, whether the title of Mother of God, should be 
conferred upon the virgin Mary, or only that of Mother of 
Christ. This council met again, ten years later, to decide 
upon the two natures of Christ,* when the heretical doctrine 
of one incarnate nature triumphed among the benighted fa- 
thers; and Flavianus, its principal opponent, was, by their or- 
der, ignominiously whipped. 

The fourth council, called the council of Chalcedon, sum- 
moned by the emperor Marcian in 451, annulled the acts of 
the second session of the council of Ephesus; condemned its 
president Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, to deposition and 
banishment; and finally established the orthodox doctrine of 
hvo distinct natures, the human and the divine, in the person 
of Christ. The council of Chalcedon is the last general coun- 
cil whose decisions are respected by the protestant commu- 
nions; for in the sixth century the Roman pontiffs began to 
assume universal dominion, and finally annihilated the pre- 
rogatives of their brethren. 

In the year 529 the order of Benedictines was instituted 
in Italy, by Benedict of !Nursia } a man of unaffected 
piety, whose rule was neither favourable to luxury nor ambi- 
tion; and the new modification of Catholic superstition spread 
with rapidity over all Europe, eventually absorbing all the- 
professions of religious austerity, by which it had been pre.- 
ceded. '■■■■■ 

The public worship was yet celebrated in the vernacular T 
tongue, though political revolutions had nearly annihilated 
the Latin language, which continued to be used in the ritual 
of the Catholic church, when it had ceased to be understood 
by illiterate congregations. > 

The Anglo-saxon kings were now converted to Christianity 
T>y the ministry of Augustine; and the belief of the gospel 
spread with facility from the island of Britain, to the neigh- 
bouring coasts of Holland and Norway. In this century flou- 
rished Giklas, a monk of Bangor, the first British writer, 
whose works have descended to posterity. 

h 



X CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

A new method of celebrating the last supper was introdu- 
ced about this time by Gregory the Great, who added without 
scruple, punctilious ceremonies to the simple ordinance of 
Christ. In these additions originated the complex canon of 
the mass, which was not universally adopted, even by the 
Latin churches, for many ages after the ambitious Gregory: 
who is represented, in one of the mosaics of St. Peter's church, 
srs performing a miracle, to confirm his suspected innovation. 

Amid the gloom of the seventh century the emperor He- 
radius persecuted the Jews, while the impostor Mahomet 
began to propagate his pretended revelation in Arabia. In 
the next darkening period the Greek and Latin churches were 
occupied in a sanguinary contest about the worship of images, 
while the Saracens strengthened themselves in the east; made 
powerful descents upon the coasts of the Mediterranean; and 
obtained possession of the fertile islands of Sicily and Sardinia, 

Every succeeding pope now added some new ceremony to 
the Romish ritual. The worship of images was at length 
systematically ordained. The bones of saints, and pieces of 
the " true cross" were venerated and enshrined. The dreaded 
punishments of sin were deprecated by donations (i to God 
and holy church." The bequests of dying sinners were con- 
ditioned for the redemption of their souls, and the deprecatory 
gifts were denominated by the accommodating church, " the. 
price of transgression." 

In the year 751 the popes of Rome sanctioned the deposi- 
tion of Childeric III, king of France; and received in acknow- 
ledgment from the usurper Pepin, the exarchate of Ravenna, 
which first raised them to the rank of temporal princes; though 
the authority of the bishops of Rome is derived from the tra- 
ditionary donation of Constantino the Great. In 774 Char- 
lemagne, son of Pepin, overturned the kingdom of the Lom- 
bards, visited Rome, and enriched the papacy with new dona-, 
tions. In acknowledgment of his generosity pope Leo III, in 
the year 800, inaugurated Charlemagne emperor of the west. 

For the regular performance of the increasing ceremonies 
of the church, the order of canons was about this time insti- 
tuted, being a grade of priesthood between the regular monks 



APPENDIX. x { 

and the secular clergy; and scholastic divines continued to 
puzzle believers with metaphysical difficulties. 

In the ninth century the idea of transubstantiation, or the 
real presence, was superadded to the inventions of Gregory; 
departed saints were canonized by the popes, who persuaded 
priests and people, that as they derived their authority from 
Heaven, the bishops could derive theirs from them alone. Yet 
the election of the pretended vicegerent of the Prince §f Peace, 
was now canvassed without the least regard to law, order, or 
even decency. 

The darkness which prevailed over the apostate church in 
the tenth century, was heightened by fearful apprehensions, 
that the end of all things was at hand. So strongly was this 
belief entertained that temporal business was neglected, and 
even churches and convents were suffered to fall into ruins 
for want of repairs. In the mean time, to dispel the anxiety 
of expectation, the festival of departed souls was added to the 
crowded kalendar; the office of the virgin was instituted by 
her peculiar votaries; and the vengeance of Heaven was de- 
precated by ave maries, and paternosters, in the endless repe" 
titions of the rosary. The critical period passing by without 
producing the dreaded event, the spirits of the people revived; 
and the Roman pontiffs began to concert measures for driv- 
ing the Saracens out of Palestine. 

Gregory VII, the most enterprising prelate that ever occu- 
pied the chair of St. Peter, incensed by the complaints of the 
Asiatic Christians, of the grievous oppression which they suf- 
fered from the infidels, resolved to lead an army in person for 
the delivery of the holy sepulchre. Fifty thousand men were 
already collected for the purpose, when the pontiff's quarrel 
with the emperor Henry IV, obliged him to relinquish his 
favourite expedition. Toward the end of the eleventh centu- 
ry, the absurd project was unexpectedly revived by the enthu- 
siasm of an obscure individual. One Peter, surnamed the 
Hermit, a recluse of Amiens, had visited the holy places, in the 
year 1090, and suffered in his own person the impositions of 
the Saracens. On his return to Europe, having implored in 
vain the interference of the patriarch of Constantinople, L 



jhI CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 

the pope of Rome, he boldly sounded the alarm In the ears of 
the temporal princes; who were easily animated, by the pre- 
tence of religion, to a war of rapine and revenge. Urged by 
the spirit of the times, Urban II now assembled a council at 
Placentia, and afterward met another at Clermont, in Au- 
vergne; wherein the sacred expedition was recommended 
with the liberal promise of plenary indulgence. An innume- 
rable multitude of all ranks and descriptions immediately 
flocked round the standard of the church. The expedition 
was called a crusade, because its object was to wrest the Cross 
of Christ out of the hands of infidels. In the year 1096, eight 
hundred thousand men set out for Constantinople, to receive 
directions from Alexius Comnenius, the Grecian emperor, 
before they marched into Asia. One of the divisions of this 
motly rabble was conducted by Peter the Hermit, with a rope 
for his girdle, assisted by Walter the Pennyless. In their de- 
sultory advances through Hungary and Thrace they commit- 
ted the most flagitious crimes, under the eyes of their sancti- 
monious leaders; and multitudes of them fell victims to the 
vengeance which they every where exasperated. 

Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwyn afterward led 
a regular army of 80,000 horse and foot, through the interior 
of Germany. Another formidable body, headed by Raimond 
Count of Thoulouse, made their way through Selavonia, ^yhile 
Robert duke of Normandy, eldest son of the conqueror of 
England; Hugh, brother of Philip the I, of France; and 
Robert earl of Flanders, embarked their respective forces at 
Brundusium and Taranto, whence they were transported to 
Dyrrachium; whither they were quickly followed by Bcemond 
duke of Calabria, who was accompanied by his cousin Tan- 
ered, the hero of Romance. This formidable host passed 
without accident, the streights of Gallipolis, stormed Nice, 
the capital of Bithynia, subdued Antioch, and finally overran 
Judea. In the year 1099 Godfrey of Bouillon was saluted 
king of Jerusalem; and the Christian armies returned to Eu- 
rope, loaded with reliques, and inspired with a taste for the 
arts and manners of the east. 

In the eleventh century Nicholas II instituted the college 
of Cardinals, which first consisted of the seven bishops of the 



APPENDIX. X iii 

Roman state, and the twenty-eight Presbyters of the Parish 
churches of Rome. To these were afterward added the pri- 
ors of St. John de Late ran, St. Peter, and Santa Maria Mag- 
giore; the Abbots of St. Paul, and St. Laurence; and finally 
as many other clerical personages as the popes inclined to fa- 
vour, to the canonical number of seventy, which has never 
been exceeded. Gregory VII enforced the celibacy of the 
clergy in a council held at Rome in 1074$ and anathematized 
those who had received the investiture of a bishopric, or an, 
abbacy, from the hands of a layman. 

In the mean time the Greeks accused the Latins, that they 
impiously made use of unleavened bread in the celebration of 
the Lord's supper; that the monks of their communion scru- 
pled not to eat lard, that the priests of the altar had the in- 
decency to shave their faces, and that, in the rite of baptism, 
the western church used only one immersion instead of three. 

SECTION II. 

OF T1IE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

Evangelic purity of faith and worship may be traced from 
the early ages of Christianity, among the humble inhabitants 
of the valiies of Piedmont; who were long afterward denomi- 
nated Waldenses, from the pious merchant of Lyons, that at- 
tached himself to their communion toward the end of the 
twelfth century. 

As early as the year 823 Claudius, bishop of Turin, con- 
temning reliques, and censuring pilgrimages, had ordered ail 
images, and even crosses, to be removed from the churches 
of his diocese; and in the last year of the tenth century Leu- 
tard, a priest of Chalons (among whose scattered disciples is 
supposed to have originated the sect of reformers known in 
France by the name of Albigenses) decried the worship of 
images and the exaction of tithes. In 1004 Leutheric, 
archbishop of Sens, maintained that none but saints and true 
believers received the body of Christ in the sacrament; a doc- 
trine which, though he weakly abjured on being summoned 
to Rome; yet he afterward professed and supported till his 



Xiv CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

death, being confirmed therein by many adherents. In 1045 Be- 
renger of Tours, afterward archbishop of Angers, a man of 
great learning and exemplary sanctity, publicly taught that the 
bread and wine were not changed in the Eucharist, into the 
body and blood of Christ; but that they still preserved their 
natural qualities, and were nothing more than figures of the 
elementary substances, which were to be spiritually received. 

In the year 1017 there had been an assembly of those pious 
Christians, at Orleans, the leading members of which were 
twelve canons of the Cathedral. They placed the sum of re- 
ligion in the internal contemplation of God, and the elevation 
of the soul to celestial objects; rejecting all external rites and 
ceremonies, as destitute of any spiritual efficacy, Their pub- 
lic profession of such unpopular doctrines was expiated in the 
flames of persecution. Another congregation of devout men 
at Arras, whose principles struck still more deeply at the root 
of the corrupt tree, which then overshadowed the Christian 
world, was induced, by the fear of punishment, to abjure the 
truths which it had ventured to inculcate. 

While poets and historians have strewed the graves of he- 
roes and philosophers, with the unfading flowers of eloquence, 
the dust of the confessors of Jesus has been scattered to the 
winds of heaven, without other memorial than the narrative 
of their sufferings, preserved in homely guise, by their zeal- 
ous contemporaries. 

Though the confessors of Arras were not ready to cont&nd 
for the faith delivered to the saints, or to seal the revelation 
with their blood; yet they had not been awed into silence by 
the frowns of power, before they had widely disseminated 
their Christian principles. These pious men denied the inhe- 
rent sanctity of churches and altars, refused to adore images 
and crosses, disapproved of the use of oil and incense, of bells, 
instrumental music, &c. They considered voluntary penance 
as unprofitable; denied the doctrine of purgatory; and declared 
that the guilt of sin could not he expiated by the celebration of 
masses for the dead, or the distribution of alms among the 
poor. 

Amid the darkness of the middle ages, which involved alike 
the eastern and the western churches, the Greek emperors 



APPENDIX- xv 

had banished into Bulgaria and Thrace, the scanty remnant 
of the Manichreans, or Paulicians (as they were sometimes 
called, from their adherence to the great apostle of the Gen- 
tiles) a sect of primitive schismatics, which yet remained in 
Pontus and Bithynia. About this time some of them had 
found their way into Lombardy, and were exploring France 
and Germany, to find a refuge from the unrelaxing persecu- 
tion that pursued their wandering footsteps. But large bo- 
dies of those traditionary primitives fell into the train of the 
Gallic armies, which were returning from Palestine through 
the province of Bulgaria; and settled in the south of France, 
where they readily coalesced with the sincere professors, who 
had separated themselves from the corrupt establishment. 
Numerous congregations of their posterity remain in Langue- 
doc to this day, notwithstanding perpetual persecution, never 
relieved but by the edict of Nantz, until the last of the 
Lewises suspended in their favour the operation of the penal 
laws. 

In Italy the devout Separatists, who now began to be nu- 
merous, were called Cathari, or Purists; for in every age 
contemptuous appellations have been given to the humble fol- 
lowers of Jesus, who was himself despised of the Jews. In 
the vallies of Piedmont they were called Waldenses; in Ger- 
many, Beghards; in England, Lollards; and in France they 
were calumniously designated by a name of reproach too in- 
famous to be repeated. 

The Waldenses were so called after Peter Waldus, a mer- 
chant, or manufacturer of Lyons, who, about the year 1160, 
employed a poor priest to translate the four gospels into 
French. Perusing them with attention, he perceived that the 
religion then taught in the church was essentially different 
from that which was originally inculcated by Christ and his 
apostles. Impressed with the self-denying precepts of the 
gospel, he abandoned his calling, distributed his goods among 
the poor, and in 1180, began to preach without clerical ordi- 
nation, the doctrine of Jesus. His followers soon became nu- 
merous among the simple-hearted believers in France and 
Lombardy, who denied the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. 
Professing no new doctrines, those sober reformers aimed at 



Xv j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

nothing more than reducing the form of church government, 
and the lives and manners of both priests and people, to the 
original simplicity of the apostolic age. The sermon of Christ 
on the mount was their rule of life and manners; the precepts 
of which they accepted literally, and of consequence con- 
demned the acquisition of riches, and forbade self-defence f the 
taking of oaths, &e. 

While the true Christian doctrine was thus gaining ground, 
in unnoticed obscurity, a second Crusade was undertaken by 
Lewis YII of France, and Conrad III, emperor of Germany. 
But the united forces of these two powerful monarchs, melt- 
ing away by famine, shipwreck, and the sword, were at 
length entirely dissipated by intestine divisions, and the per- 
fidy of the Greeks, who had learned to dread the alliance of 
the western Christians more than the hostility of their Ma- 
hometan invaders. Yet such was the blind enthusiasm of the 
age, that when Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, in a pitch- 
ed battle fought near the sea of Tiberias, took prisoner Guy 
de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, the Roman pontiff in 1189, 
proclaimed a third expedition to the Holy Land, at the instiga- 
tion of Bernard, Abbot of Clairval, who boldly prophesied 
success to the avengers of the Christian cause. Flushed with 
the confidence of victory, Frederick Barbarossa, one of the 
nominal successors of the emperors of the west, marched into 
the Lesser Asia; where he defeated the Sultan of Iconium, 
and penetrated in triumph to the borders of the promised 
land. But the hardy German, in traversing the river Saleph, 
sunk into a watery grave; and a pestilence destroyed his army 
in the neighbouring plains. The next year Philip Augustus, 
king of France, and Richard, surnamed Cozur de Lion, king 
of England, set sail from the sea-ports of their maritime do- 
minions, with an innumerable fleet of ships and transports. 
Their united forces reduced Ptolemais (now St. John d'Acrc), 
though the place was strenuously defended by the Saracens. 
Philip returned to Europe, disgusted with fatigue or danger; 
and the dauntless Richard, after he had defeated Saladin in 
several engagements, gladly embraced the proposal of a 
truce, under cover of which the Holy Land was evacuated by the 
western Christians in 1192. Richard, on his return through 



APPENDIX. XVii 

Germany, destitute and forlorn was thrown into a dungeon by 
the command of the emperor; and was fain to redeem his per- 
son by an ample rausom. In the year 1248, Lewis IX, since 
called saint Lewis, on account of this holy expedition, set sail 
for the coast of Egypt, with a well-appointed army. His bro- 
ther, the count d'Artois, was slain at the siege of Damietta, and 
the king was afterward made prisoner by the victorious Sa- 
racens. Yet in 1270 this devoted victim of superstitious 
phrenzy, uninstructed by the lessons of experience, again de- 
scended upon the coast of Africa, and perished with the flower 
of his nobility, by a wasting pestilence. Thus terminated the 
latest of those absurd expeditions, by which, for two centuries, 
all Europe was kept in arms to disturb the peace of Asia, 
under the pretence of religious obligation, to rescue the holy 
Sepulchre from the hands of infidels. 

These holy wars (as they were called) gave rise to the 
three military orders of the Catholic church, Knights of St. 
John of Jerusalem (since established at Malta), Knights Tem- 
plars (afterward so arbitrarily abolished), and Teutonic 
Knights, an institution that still forms a part of the singular 
constitution of the German empire. 

In the year 1233 Dominic de Gusman, canon of Osma, had 
been commissioned by the reigning pope, to extirpate with 
fire and sword, the Heretics of Thoulouse; and in the sangui- 
nary institutions of this anti-christian priest originated the. 
office of the Inquisition, whose cruel process still disgraces the 
Catholic kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. About the same 
time Francis de Assisi appeared in Umbria. The variegated 
tribes of western ascetics soon ranged themselves under the 
banners of those two popular leaders. But the flame of su- 
perstition now blazed with a degree of fury that alarmed the 
tranquillity of the sovereign pontiffs; for, about the middle oi' 
the thirteenth century, there arose in Italy a sect of disci- 
plinarians, so extravagant in their opinions of voluntary pe- 
nance and mortification, that the pope was fain to check the 
ebullitions of their zeal by preventing them from lacerating 
with thongs their naked bodies, in fanaticaj processions from 
town to town. 



xviii CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Upon the demise of Nicholas IV in 1292, a vacancy of three 
years interrupted the succession of the papal see; and, in the 
year 1300, Boniface VIII, ahold and enterprising prelate, who 
had assumed the triple crown, and fortified the castle of St. 
Angelo, proceeded to palm upon the Christian church, a mot- 
ley imitation of the Roman Secular Games, and the Israelitish 
Jubilee. Boniface affected to trace his institution from the 
usage of the primitive church; and proclaimed a year of ple- 
nary remission for all those who should confess their sins, 
and visit with contrite hearts, the Metropolitan churches of 
St. Peter and St. Paul. This glaring innovation was soon 
followed by the festival of the holy Sacrament, or Corpus 
Christi, in honour of the supposed transubstantiation of the 
bread and wine of the last supper, into the body and blood of 
Christ. 

In the year 1305 Bertrand de Got, archbishop of Bour- 
deaux, was elevated to the papacy, and assumed the name of 
Clement V. He could not be persuaded to quit his native 
country, and established his see in the delightful climate of 
Avignon, upon the banks of the Rhone. On the decease of Cle- 
ment, in 1314, there was another interval of two years in the 
papal succession; when he was succeeded, in turn, by John 
XXII, Benedict XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, Urban V, and 
Gregory XI, who returned to Rome in 1376, to the unbounded 
joy of the people, who compared the seventy years defection 
of the sovereign pontiffs, to the carrying aivay into Babylon. 

Upon the decease of Gregory a schism took place in the Sa- 
cred College, that interrupted the unity of tMte church, by a 
double election; under which Urban VI remained at Rome, 
and Clement VII repaired to Avignon, where his doubtful 
cause was espoused by the kings of France and Spain, of Scot- 
land, Sieily, and Cyprus. 

During fifty years, from the period of this equivocal parti- 
tion of papal supremacy, the divided body of the Universal 
church continued to own, or to disclaim, two, and sometimes 
three, different heads, which fulminated against each other 
inveterate, but impotent excommunications; until the council 
of Constance, assembled in 1414, by John XXIII, at the insti- 



APPENDIX. xix 

gation of the emperor Sigismund, declared that the Roman 
pontiff was subject to the decrees of a general eouncil. The 
assembled fathers soon afterward proceeded to depose the 
very pope by whom they had been constituted; and Gregory 
XII made a voluntary resignation of his claim to the pontifi- 
cate. In 1417 Benedict XIII, the only remaining pretender 
to the triple crown, was solemnly degraded; and Otto de Co- 
lonna was proclaimed sole head of the church, under the name 
of Martin V who united to his disputable pretensions, the in- 
fluence of one of those powerful families, which had long di- 
vided the aristocracy of Rome. But the superannuated Be- 
nedict persisted till his death, in 1423, in assuming the title 
and the prerogatives of the papacy; and when he expired in 
the arms of two attendant cardinals, who had devoted them- 
selves to his desperate fortunes, one of them elected the other 
to fill again the vacant chair. He assumed without hesita- 
tion the name of Clement VIII, but was easily persuaded to 
resign his pretensions to the ascendancy of Martin. Thus 
terminated the ambiguous schism, which had for half a cen- 
tury divided the church, and scandalized the believers. 

At the council of Constance was first ordained the practice 
of administering the eucharist to the laity, in one kind only, 
reserving the wine for the clergy alone. Thus separating the 
supposed body from the blood, which, in the figure of the last 
supper, were expressly joined together by Christ himself: « He 
that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, divelleth in me,, 
and I in him." 

The hardy innovators did not dissolve the council, before 
they had condemned to the flames John Huss and Jerome of 
Prague, for having inveighed against the corruptions of the 
clergy. But those reformers had kindled a flame in Bohemia 
which was not to be quenched at Constance; and a hundred 
years later the followers of Huss saluted Martin Luther as 
their second hope. 

In the mean time John Wickliffe, an English divine, had 
ventured to defend the privileges of the uuiversity of Oxford, 
against the pretensions of the friars mendicant; to censure 
the encroachments of the pope upon the liberties of the 



XX CHRISTIAN CHURCH 

church of England; and, about the year 1370, to translate the 
scriptures into the English language. 

The opinions of this illustrious reformer were condemned, 
in full consistory, by Gregory XI; for though a priest, he 
was for rejecting all human rites and traditions, and reducing 
church government to the apostolic order of bishops and dea- 
cons; declaring that the baptism of water prqfiteth not, with' 
out the baptism of the spirit; and that in the days of Paul a 
priest and a bishop were one and the same thing. Wickliffe 
died peaceably in 1387; though his bones were dug up and 
publicly burned. His increasing followers became the objects 
of relentless persecution, under the name of Lollards, in the 
boasted reign of Henry V. Wickliffe is the first Englishman 
mentioned in history, as espousing the cause of reformation; 
although it maybe fairly presumed to have already gained con- 
siderable strength, sinee he was openly protected by the fa- 
mous duke of Lancaster, called John of Gaunt. 

In the twelfth century the doctors of the church had been 
divided by the frivolous question of the immaculate concep- 
tion—not of the infant Jesus, but of the virgin Mary. In the 
fourteenth century arose scholastic disputations upon the 
learned errors of Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas; and the 
partizans of St. Francis and St. Dominic contended about the 
passive, or positive, poverty of Christ. In the year 1322 it 
was gravely propounded to the divines of Paris, by the pope, 
whether or not those were to be deemed heretics, who maintain- 
ed that Jesus Christ and his apostles had neither common, nor 
personal, property in any thing which they possessed. But no 
wonder that the various sects of the catholic church differed 
with one another, since the querulous celibatists frequently 
disagreed between themselves. Among the Franciscans, in 
particular, some were for rigorous discipline — others for more 
gentle chastisement of the flesh; some were for laying up win- 
ter stores — others for trusting to Providence for occasional 
supplies; some were for wearing their garments long — others 
were for cutting them short. In these frivolous contests the 
sturdy disputants alternately ejected one another from the 
wrangling refectory; till the most obstinate zealots for uncon- 



APPENDIX. XXI 

ditional poverty were convinced of the lawfulness of making 
provision for the future by the unanswerable arguments of fire 
and faggot. 

Yet the turbulent Franciscans united in maintaining that 
the founder of their order was nothing less than a second 
Christ, and that their rule of discipline was the true economy 
of Jesus. In the year 1383 a book was published under the 
patronage of the society, entitled The Conformities of St. 
Francis with Jesus Christ; and in the convent of Santa Croce, 
at Florence, may be seen to this day, a series of paintings, 
drawn by Giotto, in the infancy of the art, one half of which 
represents the life of Jesus, and the other that of Francis de 
Assisi. 

About this time the Greeks, apprehending themselves likely 
to need the assistance of the Latins, against the increasing 
ascendancy of the Turks in Asia, affected a willingness to 
submit their creed to the canons of the catholic church. In 
the year 1369 John Palseologus, the declining shadow of the 
emperors of the East, paid a visit of obeisance to the Roman 
pontiff, and subscribed a confession of faith, dictated to him 
by Urban V. But the Greek priests could never be induced 
to submit to the political confession of their prince; and the 
union of the Greek and Latin churches could not be effected. 
One of the principal points in dispute was, whether souls in 
purgatory are purified by mental anguish, or material fire. 
The Latins looked on with indifference, while the Mahome- 
tans encroached upon the fainting Greeks; and in the year 
1453 Mahomet II took Constantinople by assault, and finally 
extinguished the empire of the East. 

Thirty-nine years after that important event, in the year 
1492, Christopher Columbus discovered a new continent in 
the west, by the settlement of which with European colo- 
nists, the papal empire has since obtained a greater acces- 
sion of power and wealth than could have resulted from 
the flattering conversion of the Greeks. 

The rulers of the church now spent their days in luxuri- L 
ous indolence, and in the open practice of all kinds of vice, to 
the utter scandal of the temporal princes af Christendom; in 



xx jj CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

compliance with whose solicitations for the reformation of 
the church, Martin Y had summoned the council of Basil. 
But he died as the prelates were assembling, and left the 
synod to be opened by the proxy of his successor, Eugenius 
IV, in the year 1431. The points proposed for deliberation 
in this assembly were the union of the Greek and Latin 
churches, and the reformation of the church universal, in its 
head, and in its members, according to a resolution of the 
council of Constance. 

The council of Basil, after the critical example which had 
been set by their predecessors, deposed Eugenius in the year 
1439, and elected in his room Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who 
took the name of Felix V. But Eugenius maintained his 
authority, under the sanction of the council of Florence, until 
the fathers of Basil saparated in 1443, declaring themselves 
not dissolved, but capable of meeting again whenever they 
should think proper. 

Eugenius dying in 1447, was succeeded by Nicholas V, a 
man of sense and erudition, and a patron of learning and the 
arts. In his time were laid the new foundations of St. Pe- 
ter's church, and the art of printing was introduced at Rome.* 
Two years after the accession of Nicholas, Felix resigned his 
pretensions, and retired to a hermitage at Ripaille, on the 
borders of the Leman lake; and in 1455 Nicholas is said to 
have died of grief for the taking of Constantinople by the 
Turks. 

In the year 1492 succeeded to the papal chair, Roderic 
Borgia, otherwise Alexander VI, a man destitute of principle, 
and regardless of decency. He had four sons by one of his 
concubines, among whom was the infamous Csesar Borgia. 
His profligate career was terminated in 1503 by a dose of 
poison, which he or his graceless son had mingled for others, 
who stood in the way of their avarice, or ambition. 

* This noble art was invented in Holland, by Costar of Haarlem, about the 
year 1440; but was perfected at Mayence, by Faust and SchaefFer, and appli- 
ed to the inestimable purpose of multiplying and disseminating the produc- 
tions of genius and learning. 



APPENDIX. xxiii 

The principal places in the public schools were now occu- 
pied by bigotted monks, who loaded the memories of their 
pupils with barbarous terms, senseless distinctions, and scho- 
lastic precepts; and the publie exercises were perplexed with 
disputes between Scotists and Thomists, Realists and Nomi- 
nalists, Positivi and Sententiarii. So rare was real learning 
that, when Luther appeared in the next century, there could 
not be found, even in the university of Paris, a single doctor 
competent to examine, much less to oppose, his tenets, by the 
text of scripture. The few priests who were at all qualified 
to teach the people, strove to amuse them with wretched quib- 
bles, long narratives of fictitious miracles, and idle declamations 
upon the merits of the saints, the glory of the virgin, and the 
torments of purgatory. The richer monks, particularly those 
of the Augustine and Benedictine orders, perverting their 
revenues to the gratification of their lusts, drew upon them- 
selves popular odium by their sensuality and licentiousness. 
The mendicant orders, especially the Dominicans and Fran - 
ciscans, were employed in quarrelling over intricate or super- 
stitious questions, only agreeing that in the vow of poverty 
was the true christian life. Yet, amid the gloom of a Ger- 
man cloister, Thomas a Keinpis produced his spiritual trea- 
tise " on the imitation of Jesus Christ.'' 

In the beginning of the sixteenth century the Roman pon- 
tiff's slumbered in unsuspecting security; the commotions 
which had been excited in preceding ages, by the persecution 
of the Waldenses, Albigenses, and Beghards, and latterly, of 
the Lollards, and Bohemian brethren, having been tempo- 
rarily suppressed. But several princes and free states now 
began to exclaim against the despotic sway of the popes; 
their fraud, violence, avarice, and injustice; the arrogance, 
tyranny, and extortion of their legates; and the licentiousness 
of the monks; and they loudly demanded a general council 
for the reformation of the church. The gloomy empire of 
superstition was also now undermined by the restoration of 
learning. Erasmus and other learned men pointed their at- 



Xxiv CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

tacks particularly against the bigotry and ignorance of the 
clergy. But none of these had yet the boldness to call in 
question the deeply-rooted opinion, that Christ had esta- 
blished a vicegerent at Rome, invested with his own supreme 
and unlimited authority. The popes therefore continued to 
lull themselves in the lap of ease, and gratify without re- 
straint the bent of their lusts; which may be traced to con- 
viction among the master-pieces of the imitative arts that 
still adorn tile lodges of Raphael, the chambers of the Vati- 
can, and even the altar-piece of the papal chapel. 

The monster Alexander had been succeeded in 1503 by 
Pius III, who survived his election no more than a month; 
when his decease made way for the elevation of the despotic 
Julian de la Eovere, who assumed the denomination of Ju- 
lius the Second, and whose reign of ten years was one con- 
tinued scene of military tumult. In the year 1511, under 
the patronage of Maximilian I, and Lewis XIJ, several car- 
dinals assembled a council at Pisa, with the intention of set- 
ting bounds to the tyranny of this furious pontiff. Its pro- 
ceedings were anathematised at Rome. But Julius dying in 
1513, was succeeded by the celebrated Leo X, of the house 
of Medicis, a man equally indifferent to the principles of re- 
ligion. The time of this famous pontiff, respectable in the 
Mstory of the arts, was divided between the pursuits of 
pleasure and the conversation of men of letters. 

Among the many contrivances which had been long em- 
ployed by the popes, to draw into their coffers the wealth 
of Christendom, was the sale of indulgences; which not only 
procured the remission of the temporal pains and penalties 
which the church had annexed to certain transgressions, but 
even pretended to abolish the punishments apprehended by 
the wiclted in a state of retribution. 

In the year 1517, Leo, having incurred enormous expen- 
ses in prosecuting the building of St. Peter's church, thought 
proper to replenish his exhausted treasury by causing a ple- 
nary indulgence for all offences past, present, and to come, 
Co be proclaimed throughout Christendom for the exclusive 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH, XXV 

benefit of such as were able and willing to make the purchase. 
When this sweeping edict was promulgated at Wittemberg 
in Saxony, Martin Luther, an Augustine friar (and profes- 
sor of divinity in an academy instituted at that place by the 
elector Frederick) publicly censured the extortions of the 
questors; and even ventured to implicate the motives of the 
sovereign pontiff, in suffering the people to be seduced by 
such delusions from placing their trust and confidence in 
Christ. These sentiments of Luther were received with 
approbation by the greater part of Germany, which had 
long groaned under the impositions of the popes, and the 
contrivances of their collectors to extort money both from 
the rich and the poor. The bold reformer, who had 
been summoned to answer for his conduct at Rome, by the 
jealous Dominicans, to whom the negotiation of the indul- 
gences had been intrusted by the pope, defended himself in 
writing, and professed intentional submission, if convicted 
of error. 

At first the imperial pontiff beheld this controversy with 
indifference, or contempt; but on being informed by the em- 
peror Maximilian of the serious divisions which it was like- 
ty to produce in Germany, he summoned Luther to appear 
before him at Rome; but the papal summons was supersed- 
ed by the elector, his sovereign, who insisted that the cause 
belonged to the jurisdiction of a German tribunal, and ought 
to be decided by the ecclesiastical laws of the empire. 
The pontiff reluctantly yielded to the remonstrances of the 
prince, and Luther was ordered to answer for his heretical 
opinions before cardinal Cajetan, who was then legate at the 
diet of Augsburg. Unfortunately for the interests of the 
papacy, the legate was a Dominican, and consequently little 
disposed to adopt conciliatory measures with the innovator, 
who struck directly at the immunities of his order. The 
imperious legate, and the undaunted reformer, had three 
conferences at Augsburg, which terminated in passion o« 
one side, and contumacy on the other. 

Luther referred his cause to the ultimate decisions of the 
Roman pontiflj but retracted the submission, and appealed 



XXVI APPENDIX. 

to the future decisions of a general council, upon the pope*s 
issuing a special edict, which commanded his spiritual sub- 
jects to acknowledge his power of delivering from all the 
punishments due to sin and transgression. 

Philip Melancthon, then professor of Greek at Wittem- 
berg, whose natural mildness of temper, and elegant taste 
for polite literature, inclined him to moderation and quie- 
tude, laboured in vain to reconcile the contending parties, 
and to effect a reformation in the church, if possible, with- 
out a schism. Yet before the defection of Luther, Ulrie 
Zuinglius, a canon of Zurich, in Switzerland, of extensive 
learning, uncommon sagacity, and heroic courage, offended, 
from his earliest years with the superstitious practices of 
the church in which he was educated, had begun to ex- 
plain the scriptures to the people, to censure the miscon- 
duct of the clergy, and to pronounce the necessity of a re- 
form. Encouraged by the example and success of Luther, 
he openly opposed the ministry of an Italian monk, who 
was carrying -on in Switzerland the impious traffic of indul- 
gences; and the pope's supremacy was eventually rejected in 
the principal cantons of that republic. 

In 1520 Leo formally condemned forty-one pretended 
heresies; and in 1521 he proceeded to extremities, by excom- 
municating Luther, who now, in connxion with Melancthon, 
threw off all pretensions of allegiance to the papal see. 

In the mean time Charles V of Spain, succeeded to the- 
empire of Germany, on the demise of his grandfather Maxi- 
milian, and professing to be a faithful son of the church, at 
the instigation of Leo summoned a diet at Worms, for the 
trial and punishment of the contumacious heretic. Luther 
however was now powerfully defended by the elector his so- 
vereign, who could claim some indulgence from the new em- 
peror, as having been the principal means of preventing the 
rival pretensions of Francis I to the imperial throne. Yet 
at this diet he was declared an enemy to the holy Roman 
empire, and was only sheltered from capital punishment by his 
prudent protector, who secreted him ten months in the castle 
of Wartenberg. 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXvil 

In this seclusion Luther employed his active mind in trans- 
lating the New Testament into German; but, before he had 
finished the work, he became impatient of confinement, and 
repaired to Witteniberg, where the friends of the reformation 
had already proceeded to greater lengths than lie approved; for 
he was rather disposed to treat with toleration, altars, images, 
waxen tapers, and private confession. He now however, with 
the assistance of several learned aud pious men, completed 
his translation of the scriptures, which probably contributed 
more than all other causes, to strengthen the foundations of 
the Lutheran church. 

The year 1522 terminated the life and reign of Leo X, who, 
after having erected the stupendous pillars that should sup- 
port a regal canopy over the supposed sepulchre of St. Peier 
and St. Paul, was himself deposited beneath a humble stone, 
in a Dominican convent. 

Several diets were about this time successively convened 
at Nuremberg, whence the popish legate finally withdrew in 
disgust, on finding that the German princes in general were 
no enemies to the reformation. 

But the friends of the reformation now disagreed among 
themselves. Luther and his followers, though they reject- 
ed the Romish, doctrine of transubstantiation (or the con- 
version of the bread and wine into the real body and blood of 
Christ) were nevertheless of opinion that the partakers of 
the Lord's Supper received, together with the bread and the 
wine, the body and the blood whilst Zuinglius, on the 
contrary, and the Swiss reformers, at the head of whom is 
usually placed John Calvin, a native of Picardy, maintained 
that the body and blood were no way present in the eucha- 
rist; for that the bread and wine were nothing more than ex- 
ternal symbols, designed to excite the remembrance of the 
sufferings and death of the Redeemer. Hence arose in 152* 
a vehement controversy, which finally terminated in that dis- 
tinction of doctrine and worship which now divides the great- 
est part of the protestant world, under the distinguishing 
appellations of Lutherans and Calvinists. 

In 1529 Charles V, zealous for the unity of faith and 
worship, convoked another diet at Spires* in which every 



xxviii APPENDIX. 

change in the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the catho- 
lic church, was declared impious and unlawful. Against this 
arbitrary decree John, elector of Saxony, George, elector of 
Brandenburg, the landgrave of Hesse, the prince of Anhalt, 
and the duke of Lunenburg protested in form,* and their pro- 
test was powerfully seconded by Strasburg, Constance, and 
eleven other free cities of the empire. From this celebrated 
protest originated the name of protestants, now unanimously 
adopted by all professing Christians, who have abjured the 
Romish communion. After the dissolution of the diet the 
protestant princes re-assembled at Augsburg, to strengthen 
themselves by a league and covenant; and upon this occasion 
Melancthon drew up the famous confession of faith, which 
has ever since formed the basis of the Lutheran system. 

About this time the Swedes, under Gustavus Vasa, embra- 
ced the reformation, at the preaching of Olaus' Petri, who 
had translated the Bible into the Swedish language; as did 
the Danes soon afterward, under Christiern III. In France 
the reformed opinions had been received by great numbers 
of zealous Christians, as early as the year 1523. But the 
protestants were violently persecuted by Francis I, though 
they were countenanced by the king's sister, Margaret queen 
of Navarre, the mother of Henry de Bourbon, who after- 
ward abjured his religion, to facilitate his accession to the 
throne of France, under the well known name of Henry IV. 

The protestant doctrines had also been embraced by mul- 
titudes of devout professors in Hungary, Bohemia, the Ne- 
therlands, and the British isles, when Henry VIII separated 
from the church of Home, because Clement VII would not 
consent to dissolve his marriage with Catharine of Arragon, 
aunt to Charles V. To this measure the monarch is suppos- 
ed to have been instigated by Thomas Cranmer, a student of 
divinity, who had embraced the new doetrines, and was after- 
ward elevated to the see of Canterbury. But the licentious 
tyrant little deserves to be ranked with I he heads of the re- 
formation, since he persecuted to death, all who presumed to 
differ from his own inconstant standard of faith and practice. 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xx i x 

Henry's divorce, to which has been so lightly attributed the 
origin of the reformation in England, did not take place till 
the year 1533; although Tyndal's English translation of the 
New Testament had been printed at Antwerp in 1527, and 
was eagerly read throughout the nation; notwithstanding the 
strenuous exertions of the pretended reformer to suppress it. 
After the irresistible progress of the reformation had over- 
come the opposition of the superior clergy, Miles Coverdale 
and John Rogers were permitted to correct Tyndal's bible, 
which had been printed at Hamburg in 1532; and to publish 
the same, after having undergone the royal expurgation, un- 
der the name of Cranmer.* 

In the year 1559 John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, returned 
to Scotland from Geneva, and soon established presbyterian- 
ism upon the ruins of prelacy. 

The reformation had not been long confirmed in Britain, 
when the Belgie Provinces, united together by a respectable 
confederacy, withdrew from their spiritual allegiance to the 
Roman pontiff. Their catholic sovereign, Philip II, attempted 
to establish the tribunal of the inquisition, to check their in- 
novating spirit; but the nobility, associating to defend them- 
selves from such tyranny, the duke of Alva was sent to queil 
the revolters. A long and destructive contest ensued between 
Spain and Holland, which was at length happily terminated 
by William of Nassau, aided by queen Elizabeth. Even in 
Italy and Spain the reformed doctrines were now dissemina- 
ted; but in those bigotted countries the solitary reformers 
were extirpated by fire and sword. 

In England, during the short reign of Edward VI, the son 
and successor of Henry, the reformation made a rapid pro- 
gress, under the fostering influence of archbishop Cranmer 

,, * By a statute of the 35th of Henry VIII, it is enacted, " that the Bible 
" shall not be read in any church; that no women, or artificers, apprentices, 
"journeymen, serving-men, husbandmen, or labourers, shall read the New 
" Testament in English." A hundred years earlier an interdict had been issu- 
ed by Henry V. " That whoever they were that should read the scriptures in 
" the mother-tongue, they should forfeit lande, catel, lif, and godes from theyr 
** heyies for ever, and so be condemned [to the flames] tor heretykes to God, 
" enemies to the ci'owne, and most errant traitors to the lande." 




XXX APPENDIX. 

and the protector Somerset; although the protestant prelate 
condemned to the flames, the German anabaptists, who iled to 
England from the devastation of the Hustle War. 

During this interval of tranquillity began the first schism 
in the church of England, which eventually gave rise to the 
denomination of Puritans, an epithet of reproach that was ap- 
plied to those persons of tender conscience, who, with Hooper, 
a pious and learned divine, then lately returned from Zurich, 
refused to officiate at the ancient altars, to make the sign of 
the cross, or to invest themselves with the symbolic garments 
of the papistical priesthood. Hooper was presented to the 
see of Gloucester, and permitted his scruples to melt away in 
the sunshine of royal favour. But the more zealous reform- 
ers, such as Latimer, Coverdale, Taylor, Philpot, and Brad- 
ford* could never be persuaded to put on the popish vestments. 

King Edward, dying at the age of sixteen, was succeeded 
by his eldest sister, the daughter of Catharine of Arragon, 
emphatically styled the bloody Mary, Because, in a reign of 
no more than five years, she caused to be burned at the stake 
two hundred and seventy-seven persons, among whom were 
fifty-five women, and four children; in a vain attempt to re- 
store the realm of England to the supremacy of the papal see. 

In the year 155S queen Mary was succeeded by her sister 
Elizabeth, in whose long and prosperous reign the church of 
England was too firmly established to be shaken hy the secret 
or open Catholicism of her successors of the house of Stuart. 

The zealous professors who had escaped from persecu- 
tion, by withdrawing into foreign countries, and who now 
returned in great numbers from Frankfort, Strasburg, Basil, 
Zurich, and Geneva, were offended by the retrograde motions 
of the national establishment. After ineffectual attempts to 
promote the reformation in the bosom of the church, they 
finally separated themselves from her communion, for the li- 
berty of discharging their Christian duty, according to their 
own ideas of religious obligation. 

The dissenting congregations now suffered persecution from 
the national church, which had succeeded to the power and 
wealth of the abrogated system. But it must not be for- 



CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XX xi 

gotten that oppression and cruelty were the vices of the 
age. Clerical synods were not likely to shake off intolerance, 
whilst courts of justice at Paris as well as at London, accre- 
dited prosecutions for sorcery and witchcraft. 

Among the dissenters of Great Britain, successively arose 
the Independants, the Baptists, and the Quakers; each of 
which denominations endeavoured, in turn, to advance upon 
their predecessors, in reducing the Christian discipline and 
worship to the perfect standard of primitive simplicity. 

In the United States of America the political alliance be- 
tween church and state has been at length abolished. The 
elective government of this country, unfettered by the shackles 
of prescription, disclaims all right of interference in matters 
of conscience. From Maine to Georgia the various profes- 
sors of Christianity, whether catholic or protestant, have re- 
linquished exclusive pretensions for mutual forbearance; and 
their various modifications, like the flowers of a parterre., 
contribute to the embellishment of the garden of the Lord. 

I can scarcely refrain from closing this eventful narrative 
with the singular coincidences of prophetic anticipation and 
historical fact. But I forbear the inviduons application, 
since the book of prophecy has been sealed as with seven 
seals, from the prying researches of human curiosity; and I 
shall conclude with a remark which must be obvious to every 
reader, that the long duration of the papal hierarchy, clearly 
predicted, and accurately described, in the gospels, the epis- 
tles, and the revelations, is a proof of the divine authority of 
the New Testament, no less conclusive than the existence 
of the Jews is of that of the Old. 

The chronology of both these remarkable circumstanees in 
the history of mankind, however they have been enveloped in 
the mantle of time, may yet be corroborated at Rome, by ex- 
isting monuments of coeval antiquity. The bas-reliefs of the 
arch of Titus (the Prince that teas to destroy the City and the 
Sanctuary,) have preserved the figure of the well known ves- 
sels of the Jewish temple, ever since the destruction of the 



sxx ii APPENDIX. 

Holy City; and the rude Mosaics of the church of Santa Maria 
Maggiore, demonstrate the corruption of Christianity, at an 
age so remote from that of the protestant professions, as to 
give ample scope for the twelve hundred and sixty years of 
intermediate desolation, foreseen alike by Daniel the prophet, 
and John the divine. 



A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY. 

TO give a distinct view of the succession of princes in the chief 
empires 'or kingdoms, xvithout employing different columns (which 
distracts the attention, and occupies too much space) the series of 
the sovereigns of different nations is distinguished, in this table, 
by different typographical characters. By this method the suc- 
cession of the sovereigns in the different kingdoms is 'immediately dis~ 
iinguishable, and also the duration of their reigns. In the inter" 
va/s of time between every two successive reigns are recorded the 
remarkable events which occurred in those periods, in all parts of 
the ivorld ; and thus the connexion of general history is preserv- 
ed unbroken. 

The series of the kings and emperors of Rome is printed in a 
larger Roman type than the rest of the table : as, 

14 Tiberius, Emperor of Rome. 

The series of the popes is distinguishable by this character ^| 
prefixed to each name ; as, 

1513 *[Pope LeoX. 

The names of the emperors of Germany are printed in Italic 
capitals; as, 

887 ARNOLD, Emperor of Germany, 

The kings of England are designated by the Black Saxon types 
as, 

1066 tMIiam (the Conqueror) King of England. 

The kings of Scotland are denoted by a larger capital begin- 
ning the word; as, 

1309 Robert III, king of Scotland. 

The kings of .France are distinguished by the Italic type ; as^ 

149 8 Lewis XII, King of France* 
a 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 



Hears 
before 
Christ. 

4004 THE Creation of the World, according to the Hebrew 
text of the Scriptures. 
According to the version of the Septuagint 5872. 
According to the Samaritan version 4700. 
2348 The Universal Deluge. 
2247 The Building of Babel ; the Dispersion of Mankind ; and 

the Confusion of Languages. 
2217 Ninus, King of Assyria, began to reign. 
■ Nimrod supposed to have built Babylon, and. founded the 
Babylonish Monarchy ; and Assur to have built Nine- 
veh, and founded the Monarchy of Assyria. 
2188 Menes (in Scripture Misraim) founds the Monarchy of 

Egypt. 
2084 The Shepherd Kings conquer Egypt. 
2075 Semiramis Queen of Assyria. 
2040 Mreris King of Thebes and Memphis in Egypt. 
1996 The Birth of Abram. 

1912 Chedarlaomer subdues several of the Kings in Judea. 
1897 Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire from Heaven. 
1895 Isaac born. 

1856 Inachus founds the Kingdom of Argos in Greece. 
1836 Jacob and Esau born. 
1825 The Shepherd Kings abandon Egypt. 
1823 Death of Abraham. 
1796 The Deluge of Ogyges in Attica. 
1722 Sesostris or Rameses King of Egypt. 
1635 Joseph dies in Egypt. 
1582 The Chronology of the Arundelian Marbles begins with 

this year. 
1571 Moses born in Egypt. 
1556 Cecrops founds the Kingdom of Athens. 
1546 Scamander founds the Kingdom of Troy. 
1532 Judgment of the Aeropagus between Mars and Neptune* 

two princes of Thessaly. 
1529 The Deluge of Deucalion in Thessaly. 
1522 The Council of the Amphictyons instituted. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 3 

B. a 

1520 Corinth built. 

1519 Cadmus builds Thebes, and introduces Letters into Greece. 

1513 The supposed era of the History of Job. 

1511 Danaus came from Egypt into Greece. 

1506 Erectheus or Ericthonius institutes the Panathensean 

Games. 
1491 Moses brings the Israelites out of Egypt. 
1453 The first Olympic Games celebrated in Greece. 
1452 The Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses, written. 
1451 The Israelites led into the land of Canaan by Joshua. 
1438 Pandion King of Athens. 
1415 The Book of Joshua supposed to be written by Phineas 

the High Priest. 
1406 Minos reigns in Crete, and gives laws to the Cretans. 
1376 Sethos reigns in Egypt. 
1322 Belus reigns in Babylon. 
1267 Ninus reigns in Assyria. 

1266 Oedipus marries his Mother Jocasta, and reigns in Thebes. 
1263 The Argonautic Expedition. According to the Newto- 
nian chronology 937. 
1257 Theseus unites the Cities of Attica. 
1255 The Israelites delivered by Deborah and Barak. 
1252 Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia, built. 
1225 Siege of Thebes. War between Eteocles and Polynices. 

Eurysthenes and Procles Kings of Lacedsemon. 

1215 Second War of Thebes, or War of the Epigonoi. 

1207 Gideon Judge of Israel, 42 years. 

1202 Teucer built Salamis. 

1193 The Trojan War begins. 

1184 Troy taken and burnt by the Greeks. According to the 

Arundelian Marbles 1209. 
1182 iEneas lands in Italy. 
1155 Samson born. 

1104 Return of the Heraclidse into Peloponnesus. 
1099 Samuel delivers Israel. 
1079 Saul King of Israel. 
1070 Medon first Archon of Athens. 

1069 Codrus King of Athens devotes himself for his country. 
1055 David King of Israel. 
1004 Dedication of Solomon's Temple. 

980 Rhehoboam King of Israel. 

971 Sesac, or Sesostris, King of Egypt. 

923 Ahab and Jezabel reign over Israel. 

914 Omri King of Israel. 

889 Athaliah, wife of Jehoram, usurps the throne of Judah. 

886 Homer's Poems brought from Asia into Greece. 



4 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B.C. 

884 Lycurgus reforms the Republic of Lacedsemonv 

869 The City of Carthage built by Dido. 

820 Nineveh taken by Arbaces and Belesis, which finishes that 

kingdom. 
806 Jonah preaches repentance to Nineveh. 
776 The first Olympiad begins in this year. 
769 Syracuse built by Archias of Corinth. 
767 Sordanapalus King of Assyria. 

760 The Ephori, popular Magistrates, instituted at Laceda?mon.. 
757 Hylattes King of Lydia. 
754 Decennial Archons elected at Athens. 
752 The Foundation of Rome by Romulus. 
750 Rape of the Sabine Women. 

747 The Era of Nabonassar made use of by Ptolemy. 
- — The tenth Olympiad. 
738 Candaules King of Lydia. 
724 Hezekiah tenth King of Judah. 
721 Salmanazar takes Samaria, and carries the Ten Tribes into 

captivity, which puts an end to the Israelitish Kingdom. 
718 Gyges King of Lydia. 
715 Numa Pompilius, second King of Rome. 
711 Sennacherib, King of Assyria, invades Judaea. 
710 Dejoces King of Media. 
708 Habakkuk prophesied. 
703 Corcyra founded by the Corinthians. 
700 Twentieth Olympiad. 
696 Manasseh sixteenth King of Judah. 
688 Judith kills Holofernes the Assyrian General. 
684 Annual Archons elected at Athens. 

681 Esarhaddon unites the Kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria. 
672 Tullus Hostilius, third King of Rome. 
670 Psammeticus King of Egypt. 
667 The Combat between the iloratii and Curiatih 
660 Thirtieth Olympiad. 

658 Byzantium founded by Pausanias King of Sparta. 
<— Phraortes King of Media. 
640 Ancus Martins, fourth Kins: of Rome. 
627 The Forty Years of Ezekiel began. 
626 Periander Tyrant of Corinth. 
^ — , Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, begins to reign 

at Babylon. 
624 Draco, Archon and Legislator of Athens. 
620 Fortieth Olympiad. 
616 Tarquinis Priscus, fifth King of Rome. 
606 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, and carries the Jews in- 
to captivity. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. * S 

B.C. 

601 Battle between the Medes and Lydians, who are separated 
by a great eclipse of the sun, predicted by Thales. 
(Newton Chron. 585.) 

- — End of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh taken by Nebu- 
chadnezzar. 

600 Jeremiah prophesied. 

599 Birth of Cyrus the Great. 

594 Solon, Archon and Legislator of Athens. 

580 Fiftieth Olympiad. 

578 Servius Tuliius, sixth King of Rome. 

572 Nebuchadnezzar subdues Egypt. 

571 Phalaris Tyrant of Agrigentum. 

562 Comedies first exhibited at Athens by Thespis. 

Croesus reigns in Lydia. 

551 Confucius, the Chinese Philosopher, born. 

550 Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens. 

548 The Ancient Temple of Delphos burnt by the Pisistratidze. 

540 Sixtieth Olympiad. 

538 Babylon taken by Cyrus. End of the Bab} Ionian Empire. 

536 Cyrus ascends the throne of Persia. He puts an end to the 
Jewish captivity, which had lasted seventy years. 

534 Tarquinius Superbus, seventh King of Rome. 

. Daniel prophesied. 

529 Death of Cyrus the Great. Cambyses King of Persia. 

Death of Pisistratus Tyrant of Athens. 

522 Darius, son of Hystaspes, King of Persia. 

520 The Jews begin to build the second Temple, which is finish- 
ed in four years. 

510 The Pisistratidae expelled from Athens, and the democracy 
restored. 

509 TheTarquins expelled from Rome, and the Regal Govern- 
ment abolished. 

508 The first Alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians. 

504 Sardis taken and burnt by the Athenians. 

500 Seventieth Olympiad. 

498 The first Dictator created at Rome (Lartius.) 

497 Institution of the Saturnalia at Rome. 

493 The port of Pirseus built by the Athenians. 

490 The Battle of Marathon, in which Miltiades defeats the 
Persians. 

438 The first Tribunes of the People created at Rome. Ac-. 
cording to Blair 403. 

Statues erected at Athens to Harmodious and Aristogiion. 

486 Xerxes succeeds his father Darius in the kingdom of Per- 
sia. 

- — - Miltiades dies in prison. 



& CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B.C. 

485 Coriolanus banished from Rome. 

483 Quaestors instituted at Rome. 

« ■ Aristides banished from Athens by the Ostracism. 

480 The Spartans, under Leonidas, slain at Thermopylae. 

Naval Victory gained by the Greeks over the Persians at 

Salamis. 

479 Attica laid waste and Athens burnt by Mardonius. 

Victories over the Persians at Plataea and Mycale. 

• Xerxes leaves Greece. 

477 300 Fabii killed by the Veientes. 

476 Themistocles rebuilds Athens. 

■ Valerius triumphs over the Veientes and Sabines. 

■ The Roman Citizens numbered at 103000. 

■ A great eruption of ^Etna. 

- — Hiero King of Syracuse. 

471 Volero, the Roman Tribune, obtains a law for the election 
of Magistrates in the comitia held by tribes. 

41T0 Cimon, son of Miltiades, defeats the Persian army and fleet 
in one day, at the mouth of the river Eurymedon. 

469 Capua founded by the Tuscans. 

464 Artaxerxes (Longimanus) King of Persia. 

Cimon banished by the Ostracism. 

463 Egypt revolts from the Persians. 

462 The Terentian Law proposed at Rome. 

460 Eightieth Olympiad. 

456 Cincinnatus Dictator at Rome. 

The Ludi Saeculares first instituted at Rome. 

455 Commencement of the Seventy Prophetical Weeks of 
Daniel. 

453 The number of the Tribunes of the people at Rome in- 
creased from five to ten. 

452 The two Books of Chronicles supposed to have been writ- 
ten at this time by Ezra. 

451 Creation of the Decemviri at Rome, and compilation of 
the Laws of the Twelve Tables. 

449 Peace between the Greeks and Persians concluded by Ci- 
mon, glorious for Greece. 

~ — - Death of Virginia, and Abolition of the Decemvirate. 

445 The Law of Canuleius for the Intermarriage of the Patri 
cians and plebeians at Rome. 

- — Military Tribunes created. 

437 The Censorship first instituted at Rome. 

436 Pericles in high power at Athens. 

432 Meton's Cycle of the Moon of nineteen years. 

431 The Peloponnesian War begins, which lasted 27 years. 

430 The History of the Old Testament ends about this time. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 7 

B.C. 
430 Great Plague at Athens, eloquently described by Thucy- 
dides. 

Malachi the last of the Prophets. 

428 Death of Pericles. 

423 Darius Nothus King of Persia. 

420 Ninetieth Olympiad. 

418 Disturbances at Rome on account of the Agrarian Law. 

414 The Athenians defeated before Syracuse. 

413 Alcibiades, accused at Athens, flies to the Lacedaemoni- 
ans. 

412 A Council of 400 governs Athens. 

405 Lysander defeats the Athenians at ^Egos Potamos. 

404 Artaxerxes II (Mnemon) King of Persia. 

■ End of the Peloponnesian War. 

403 Lysander takes Athens. Government of the Thirty Ty- 
rants: 

401 The younger Cyrus defeated by his brother Artaxerxes, 
and killed. 

Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 

Persecution and Death of Socrates. 

Thrasybulus drives out the Thirty Tyrants, and delivers 

Athens. 

399 A Lectisternium first celebrated at Rome. 

397 The lake of Alba drained by the Romans. 

396 Syracuse unsuccessfully beseiged by the Carthaginians. 

391 Marcus Furius Camillus Dictator at Rome. Veii taken. 

387 Dishonourable Peace of Antalcidas between the Spartans 
and Persians. 

385 Rome taken by the Gauls under Brennus. 

382 Phaabidas, the Spartan, seizes the Citadel of Thebes. 

380 Pelopidas and Epaminondas deliver Thebes from the Lace- 
daemonians. 

Hundredth Olympiad. 

371 Battle of Leuctra, in which the Lacedaemonians are defeat- 
ed by the Phebans under Epaminondas. 

364 Pelopidas defeats the Tyrant of Pheraea, but is killed in 
battle. 

363 Battle of Mantinea, in which Epaminondas is killed. 

362 Curtius leaps into a Gulph in the forum at Rome. 

361 Darius Ochus (or Artaxerxes III) King of Persia. Ac- 
cording to Blair, 358. 

358 War of the Allies against Athens. 

— — Philip of Macedon takes Amphipolis, Pydna, and Potidea. 

357 Dion overcomes the party of Dionysius at Syracuse. 

356 Alexander the Great born at Pellain Macedonia. 

— — The Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, burnt by Erostratus.-. 



a CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

b. a 

356 The Phocian or Sacred War begins in Greece. 
— — Philip conquers the Thracians, Pseonians, and Illyrians. 
350 Darius Ochus subdues Egypt. 
348 Philip of Macedon takes Qlynthus. 
■ — ~ End of the Sacred Avar. 

347 Dionysius restored at Syracuse, after an exile often years. 
•346 Philip admitted a Member of the Amphictyonic Council. 
343 Syracuse taken by Timoleon, and Dionysius the Tyrant fi- 
nally banished. 
«___ The War between the Romans and Samnites, which led to 

the conquest of all Italy. 
340 Hundred and tenth Olympiad. 
™ — The Carthaginians defeated near Agrigentum. 

P. Decius devotes himself for his country. 

338 Battle of Cheronasa gained by Philip over the Athenians 

and Thebans. 
337 Philip chosen Generalissimo of the Greeks. 
336 Philip murdered by Pausanias. 
■ — - Alexander the Great King of Macedon, 
- — Alexander the Great destroys Thebes. 
335 Darius III (Codomannus) King of Persia. 
- — — Alexander chosen, Generalissimo by the States of Greece. 
334 Alexander defeats the Persians on the banks of the Grampus. 
333 The Persians defeated by Alexander at Issus. 
332 Alexander conquers Egypt, and takes Tyre. 
331 Darius defeated by Alexander at Arbela. 
330 Darius Codomannus killed. End of the Persian Empire. 
- — — Alexander takes possession of Susa, and sets fire to the 

Palace of Persepolis. 
328 Alexander passes into India, defeats Porus, founds several 

cities, penetrates to the Ganges. 
- — The voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates. 
325 Papirius Cursor, Dictator at Rome, triumphs over the Sam- 
nites. 
324 Alexander the Great dies at Babylon, at the age of thirty- 
three. 
321 The Samnites make the Roman Army pass under the yoke 

at Caudium. 
320 Ptolemy carries 100,000 Jews captives into Egypt. 
317 Agathocles Tyrant of Syracuse. 
312 Era of the Seleucidse. 
311 Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, conclude a peace 

•with Antigonus. 
304 Demetrius besieges Rhodes. 

r03 Demetrius restores the Greek Cities to their liberty. 
301 Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus is defeated 
and slain. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 9 

B. C. 

301 Fabius Maximus and Valerius Corvus Dictators. 
300 Seleucus founds Antioch, Edessa, and Laodicea. 

■ Hundred and twentieth Olympiad. 

298 Athens taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes. 

294 Seleucus resigns his Wile Stratonice to his son Antiochus. 

286 Law of Hortensius, by which the decrees of the people 

were allowed the same force as those of the senate. 
285 The Astronomical Era of Dionysius of Alexandria. 
284 Ptolemy Philadelphus King of Egypt. 
£83 The Library of Alexandria founded. 
281 Commencement of the Achaean League. 
280 Pyrrhus invades Italy. 

Antiochus Soter King of Syria. 

277 The Translation of the Septuagint made by order of Ptole- 
my Philadelphus. Playfair, 285. 

— *. Antigonus Gonatas reigned in Macedon thirty-six years. 

275 Pyrrhus unsuccessful against the Carthaginians in Sicily. 

274 Pyrrhus, totally defeated by the Romans near Beneventum, 
evacuates Italy. 

272 The Samnites finally subdued by the Romans. 

266 Silver Money is coined at Rome for the first time. 

265 The Citizens of Rome numbered at 292224. 

264 The first Punic War begins. The Chronicle of Paros com- 
posed. 

260 Provincial Quaestors instituted at Rome. 

Hundred and thirtieth Olympiad. 

First Naval Victory obtained by the Romans under the 

Consul Duilius. 

HS5 Regulus defeated and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians 
under Xantippus. 

253 Manasseh chosen High Priest of the Jews. 

251 Great Victory of Metellus over Asdrubal. 

250 The Romans besiege Lilybccurn ; are defeated by Hamilcai\ 

241 End of the first Punic War. 

Attalus King of Pergamus succeeds Eumenes. 

240 Comedies are first acted at Rome. 

235 The Temple of Janus shut the frrst time since the Keign of 

Numa. 
228 Hamilcar killed in Spain. 
225 Great Victory of the Romans over the Gauls. 
220 Hundred and fortieth Olympiad. 
219 Hannibal takes Saguntum. 
218 The second Punic War begins. 
217 Hannibal defeats the Romans under Flaminius. 
— — Fabius Maximus Dictator. 

b 



10 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B. C. 

216 Battle of Cannse, in which the Romans are totally defeated 

by Hannibal. 
212 Philip II, of Macedon, defeats the ./Etolians. 

Marcellus takes Syracuse, after a siege of two years. 

211 Capua surrenders to the Romans. 

— • — Antiochus the Great conquers Judaea. 

210 Asdrubal vanquished in Spain by the Scipios. 

■ Publius Scipio, sent into Spain, takes New Carthage. 

206 Philopoemen Praetor of the Achfeans. 

203 The Carthaginians recal Hannibal to Africa. 

■ Sophonisba poisoned by Massinissa. 

201 Syphax led in triumph to Rome bv P^Scipio. 

197 Philip defeated by the Romans at Cynocephale. 

196 The Battle of Zama, and end of the second Punic War. 

190 The Romans enter Asia, and defeat Antigonus at Magne 

sia. 
183 The elder Cato Censor at Rome. 

. Hundred and fiftieth Olympiad. 

173 War between the Romans and Perseus King of Macedon i 
172 Antiochus defeats the generals of Ptolemy in Egypt. 
1 70 Antiochus Epiphanes takes and plunders Jerusalem. 
169 Terence's Comedies performed at Rome. 
167 Perseus defeated by Paulas iEmilius, and brought prisoner 

to Rome. End of the Kingdom of Macedon. 
166 Judas Maccabeus drives the Syrians out of Judaea. 
164 The Roman Citizens numbered at 327032. 
149 The third Punic War begins. 
147 Metellus defeats the Achseans. 
146 Corinth taken by the Consul Mummius. 
- — Carthage taken and destroyed bv the Romans. 

■ Hundred and sixtieth Olympiad. 

137 The Romans shamefully defeated by the Numantines. 
135 The History of the Apocrypha ends. 

Antiochus besieges Jerusalem. 

133 Tiberius Gracchus put to death. 

Numantia taken. Pergamus becomes a Roman province. 

121 Caius Gracchus killed. 

113 Carbo the Consul drives the Cimbri and Teutones out of 

Italy. 
Ill The Jugurthine War begins. 
108 Marius defeats Jugurtha. 
103 Jugurtha starved to death at Rome. 
V 2 Marius defeats the Teutones and Cimbri. 

■ Hundred and seventieth Olympiad. 

91 The War of the Allies against the Romans. 
90 S /11a defeats the Marsi, Peiigni, Samnites, he. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. il 

B.C. 

89 The Mithridatic War begins. 

88 Civil War between Marius and Sylla, Sylla takes posses- 
sion of Rome. 
86 Mithridates king of Pontus defeated by Sylla. 

53 Sylla defeats Norbanus. The Capitol burnt. 

82 Sylla perpetual Dictator. His horrible Proscription. 

80 Julius Caesar makes his first Campaign. 

79 Cicero's first Oration for Roscius. 

78 Sylla resigns all power, and dies. 

77 The War of Sertorius. 

72 Lucullus repeatedly defeats Mithridates, and reduces Pon- 
tus to a Roman province. 

70 Crassus and Pompey chosen Consuls at Rome. 

63 Victories of Pompey. He takes Jerusalem, and restores 
Hyrcanus to the government of Judea. 

62 Catiline's Conspiracy quelled at Rome by Cicero. 

61 Pompey enters Rome in triumph. 

— Hundred and eightieth Olympiad. 

59 The first Triumvirate ; Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar. 

— Caesar proposes a new Agrarian Law. 

58 Clodius the Tribune procures the Banishment of Cicero. 
57 Caesar defeats Ariovistus in Gaul. 
- — Cicero brought back from Exile with high honour. 
55 Caesar lands in Britain, and makes a short campaign. 

54 Caesar invades Britain a second time, and conquers part of 

it. 
53 Crassus killed in Mesopotamia. 

52 Milo defended by Cicero for the slaughter of Clodius. 
49 Caesar passes the Rubicon, and marches to Rome. 

— Commencement of the Era of Antioch, October, 49 A. C. 
48 Battle of Pharsalia, in which Pompey is defeated. 

— Pompey slain in Egypt. 

- — The Alexandrian Library of 40,000 volumes burnt. 

46 Cato, besieged in Utica, kills himself. 

45 The Kalendar reformed by Julius Caesar, by introducing 

the Solar Year instead of the Lunar. The first Julian 

Year began January 1, 45 A. C. 
44 Julias Caesar killed in the Senate-House. 

— Octavius, grand nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, comes 

to Rome, and is opposed at first by Antony. 

43 Second Triumvirate ; Octavius, Mark Antony, and Lepi- 
dus. 

42 Battle of Philippi, in which Brutus and Cassius aire de- 
feated. 

40 Herod marries Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus, and ob- 
tains from the Romans the Government of Judaea, 

34 Antony divides Armenia among the children of Cleopatra, 



U CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

B.C. 

33 Mauritania reduced into a Roman Province. 

32 War declared by the Senate against Antony and Cleopatra. 

31 Battle of Actium, and End of the Roman Commonwealth. 

— Octavius Emperor of Rome. 

30 Death of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Alexandria taken 

by Octavius. 
27 Octavius receives the title of Augustus. 
23 Death of Mareellus. Agrippa in Spain. 
20 Porus King of India sends an Embassy to Augustus. 

— Hundred and ninetieth Olympiad. 
17 Augustus revives the Secular Games. 

15 The Rhseti and Vindelici defeated by Drusus. 
10 The Temple of Janus shut by Augustus for a short time. 
S Augustus corrects an Error of the Roman Kalendar. 

- Death of Mecsenas. 

5 Augustus ordains a Census of ail the people in the Roman 

Empire. 
4 JESUS CHRIST is born four years before the com- 
mencement of the vulgar era. 
A. D. 

9 The Roman Legions under Varus destroyed in Germany. 

- Ovid the Poet banished to Tomos. 
14 Tiberius Emperor of Rome. 
19 Germanicus dies at Antioch. 

— Tiberius banishes the Jews from Rome. 

21 TWO HUNDREDTH OLYMPIAD. 

25 Two hundredth and first Olympiad. Here the 

Olympiads end. 

26 John the Baptist preaches in Judaea the Coming of the 

Messiah. 

27 Tiberius retires to the island of Caprea?. 
-— Pilate made Governor of Judaea. 

31 Sejanus disgraced, and put to death by Tiberius. 
33 fl St. Peter first Pope. 

— JESUS CHRIST is crucified. 
35 The Conversion of St. Paul. 
57 Caligula Emperor of Rome. 

39 St. Matthew writes his Gospel. 

40 The name of Christians first given to the Disciples of 

Christ at Antioch. 

41 Claudius Emperor of Rome. 

• — Herod persecutes the Christians, and imprisons Peter. 

42 Sergius Paulus, proconsul, converted by St. Paul. 

43 Expedition of Claudius into Britain. 

44 St. Mark writes his Gospel. 

45 Vespasian in Britain. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 13 

A.D. 

47 The Ludi Sceculares (secular games) performed at Rome. 

48 Messalina put to death by Claudius, who marries Agrippi- 

na, the mother of Nero. 

50 St. Paul preaches in the Areopagus at Athens. 

51 Caractacus, the British King, is carried prisoner to Rome. 

54 Nero Emperor of Rome. 

55 Britannicus poisoned by Nero. 

59 Nero puts to death his mother Agrippina. 

60 Suetonius Paulinus defeats the Britons. 

61 The Britons, under Queen Boadicea, defeat the Romans. 
64 The first Persecution of the Christians raised by Nero. 
— - Rome set on fire by Nero. 

66 Bareas Soranus and Thrasea Psetus put to death by Nero. 

— ^j Pope Linus. 

6/ Massacre of the Jews by Florus, at Csesarea, Ptolemais, 
and Alexandria. 

— St. Peter and St. Paul put to death. 

— Josephus, the Jewish historian, governor of Galilee. 

— <fj Pope St. Clement. 

68 Galba Emperor of Rome. 

69 Otho Emperor of Rome. 

— Vitellius Emperor of Rome. 

70 Vespasian Emperor of Rome. 

i — Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus. 

77 % Pope St. Cletus. 

78 A great Pestilence at Rome, 10,000 dying in one day. 

79 Titus Emperor of Rome. 

- — Herculaneum and Pompeii destroyed by an Eruption of 

Vesuvius. 
• 80 Conquests of Agricola in Britain. 
81 Domitian Emperor of Rome. 
83 ^| Pope Anacletus. 
89 Apollonius of Tyanea defends himself before Domitian 

against an accusation of Treason. 

95 Dreadful Persecution of the Christians at Rome, and in 

the provinces. 
■ — St. John writes his Apocalypse, and his Gospel. 

96 Nerva Emperor of Rome. 

— ^j Pope Evaristus. 

98 Trajan Emperor of Rome. 

— Trajan forbids the Christian Assemblies. 
100 

103 The Dacians subdued by Trajan. 

107 Trajan's Victories in Asia. 

i08 St, Ignatius devoured by wild Beasts at Rome. 



14 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

108 51 P°P e Alexander I. 

115 The Jews in Cyrene murder 200000 Greeks and Romans. 

117 5j Pope Sixtus I. 

118 Adrian Emperor of Rome. 

— — Persecution of the Christians renewed by Adrian, but af- 
terward suspended. 
120 Adrian's Wall built across Britain. 
127 51 Pope Telesphorus. 

131 Adrian visits Egypt and Syria. 

132 Adrian publishes his perpetual Edict or Code of the Laws. 
135 The Romans destroyed 580000 Jews in Judaea. 

137 Adrian rebuilds Jerusalem by the name of iElia Capitolina. 

138 51 Pope Hyginus. 

— — Antoninus Pius Emperor of Rome. 

139 The Wall of Antoninus built between Forth and Clyde. 
142 5| Pope Pius I. 

150 51 Pope Anicetus. 

154 Justin Martyr publishes his Apology for the Christians. 

161 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and Lucius Verus, Em- 

perors of Rome. 

162 5| Pope Soter. 

167 Poly carp and Pionices suffered Martyrdom in Asia. 

169 War with the Marcomanni. 

171 Death of Verus. Marcus Aurelius sole Emperor. 

. ^j Pope Eleutherius. 

177 Persecution of the Christians at Lyons. 
180 Commodus emperor of Rome. 
185 5| Pope Victor I. 

1 89 The Saracens defeat the Romans. This people first men- 
tioned in history. s 

193 Pertinax Emperor of Rome. Didius Julianus pur- 

chases the Empire. 

Pescennius Niger declared Emperor in the East. 

— — Septimius Severus Emperor of Rome. 

194 Niger defeated by Severus, and put to death. 

195 Byzantium besieged, surrenders to Severus. 

196 Albinus proclaimed Emperor in Britain. 

197 Albinus, defeated by Severus, kills himself. 
51 Pope Zephyrinus. 

200 

202 The fifth Persecution against the Christians, principally in 
Egypt. 

208 Severus with his sons Caracalla and Getta, in Britain. 

209 The Caledonians repulsed, and a Wall built between the 

rivers Forth and Clvde. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. IS 

A.D. 

211 Caracalla and Geta Emperors of Rome. 

212 Caracalla murders Geta. 

217 Caracalla jut to death. 

Macrinus Emperor of Rome. 

- — • ^| Pope Calixtus I. 

218 Heliogabalus Emperor of Rome, 

222 Alexander Severus Emperor of Rome. 

A Tribute paid by the Romans to the Goths. 

^| Pope Urban I. 

226 The Persians totally defeated by Alexander Severus'. 
230 ^T Pope Pontianus. 

235 ^ Pope Anterus. 

Maximinus assassinates Alexander Severus, and is 

proclaimed Emperor of Rome. 

236 The sixth Persecution of the Christians. 

^\ Pope Fabianus. 

237 Maximinus defeats the Dacians and Sarmatians. 

238 Maximus and Balbinus Emperors of Rome* 
■ Gordian Emperor of Rome. 

242 Gordian defeats the Persians under Sapor. 
244 Philip the Arabian Emperor of Rome. 

248 The Secular Games celebrated at Rome. Pompey's The- 

atre burnt. 

St. Cyprian elected Bishop of Carthage. 

249 Decius Emperor of Rome. 

250 The seventh Persecution of the Christians under Decius. 
^f Pope St. Cornelius. 

251 Vibius Volusianus Emperor of Rome. 
Gallus Emperor of Rome. 

252 ^| Pope Lucius I. 

253 The Goths, Burgundians, Sec. make an erruption into Mce- 

sia and Pannonia. 

254 Valerianus Emperor of Rome. 
51 Pope Stephen I. 

257 The eighth Persecution of the x Christians, 

Pope Sixtus II. 

259 The Persians ravage Syria. 

^j Pope Dionysius. 

260 Gallienus Emperor of Rome. 

The Temple of Diana at Ephesus burnt. 

261 Sapor, the Persian, takes Antioch, Tarsus, and Caesarea. 

267 The Heruli invade and ravage Greece. 

268 Claudius II Emperor of Rome. 



16 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A.D. 

269 The Goths and Heruli, to the number of 320000, defeated 

by Claudius. 
51 Pope Felix I. 

270 Aurelian Emperor of Rome. 

27 'i The Alemanni and Marcomanni ravage the Empire. 

272 The ninth Persecution of the Christians. 

273 Zenobia Queen of Palmyra defeated by Aurelian at Edessa. 

274 51 Pope Eutychianus. 

275 Tacitus Emperor of Rome. 

276 Florianus Emperor of Rome. 

277 Probus Emperor of Rome. 

282 Cams Emperor of Rome defeats the Quadi and Sar~ 

matians. 
— — Carinus, Numerianus, Emperors of Rome. 

283 51 Pope Caius. 

— - Fingal King of Morven died. 

284 Diocletian Emperor of Rome. 

286 The Empire attacked by the Northern Nations. 

— — Carausius usurps the government of Britain, and reigns 
seven years. 

290 The Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes published. 

292 Partition of the Empire by Diocletian between two Em- 
perors and two Caesars. 

295 51 Pope Marcellinus. 

Alexandria in Egypt taken by Diocletian. 

300 

302 The tenth Persecution of the Christians. 

304 5j Pope Marcellus. 

Resignation of Diocletian and Maximian. 

— Galerius and Constantius Emperors of Rome, 

305 Maximinus Emperor of Rome. 

306 Constantine the Great Emperor of Rome. He stops 

the Persecution of the Christians. 
310 5j Pope Eusebius. 
5[ Pope Melchiades. 

313 Edict of Milan published by Constantine. Christianity 

tolerated throughout the empire. 

314 51 Pope Sylvester. 

325 Constantine abolishes the Combats of Gladiators. 

He assembles the first General Council at Nice, where the 

Doctrines of Arius are condemned. 

326 St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, introduces Mona- 

chism in the Roman empire. 
329 Constantine removes the Seat of Empire to Constantinople, 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 17 

A. D. 

336 5J Pope Marcus. 

337 jf Pope Julius I. 

— - Death of Constantine*. The Empire divided among his 

three Sons. 
—=*» Constantine II, Constans, and Constantius, Empe- 

rors of Rome. 
350 Constans murdered. Magnentius assumes the purple* 
352 5J Pope Liberius. 

356 5[ Pope Felix. 

357 The Germans defeated bv Julian at Strasburg. 

358 fl Pope Felix II. 

361 Julian Emperor of Rome. He abjures Christianity, 
is elected Pontifex Maximus, and attempts fruit- 
lessly to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, 

363 Jovian Emperor of Rome. 

364 Valentinian Emperor of the West. 
Valens Emperor of the East. 

366 51 Pope Damasus. 

367 Gratian Emperor of the West. 

375 Valentinian II Emperor of the West. 
3/6 Valens allows the Goths to settle in Thrace. 

378 The Goths advance to the Gates of Constantinople. Death 

of Valens. 

379 Theodosius the Great Emperor of the East. 
381 Second General Council held at Constantinople. 

383 The Huns overrun Mesopotamia j are defeated by the 

Goths. 

384 Symmachus pleads the cause of Paganism against St. Am- 

brose in the Senate. 

385 51 Pope Syricius. 

392 Theodosius Emperor of the West and East. 
395 Arcadius Emperor of the East, and Honorius of 
the West. 

> ■ The Huns invade the Eastern Provinces. 

397 St. Chrysostom chosen Patriarch of Constantinople 
399 51 Pope Anastasius. 

■ Gainas the Goth obtains Honours from Arcadius. 

400 

Alaric the Goth ravages Italy. 

401 51 Pope Innocent I. 

403 Stilicho, General of Honorius, defeats Alarac near Pollen- 

tia. 

404 JC ergus I, King of Scotland, supposed to have begun hjg 

reign. 



IS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

406 The Vandals, Alans, &x. invade France and Spain, 
408 Theodosius II Emperor of the East. 

410 Rome sacked and burnt by Alaric. Death of Alaric. 

411 The Vandals settled in Spain. 

416 The Secular Games celebrated at Rome. 

- — — The Pelagian Heresy condemned by the Bishops of Africa. 

417 51 Pope Zozimus. 

418 51 Pope Boniface I. 

420 Pharamond first King of the Franks supposed to have be- 
gun his reign. 
422 51 Pope Cselestinus 

424 Valentinian III Emperor of the West. 
426 The Romans withdraw finally from Britain. 
428 iEtius, the Roman General, defeats the Franks and Goths. 

431 The third General Council held at Ephesus. 

432 5| Pope Sixtus III. 

435 The Theodosian Code published. 

439 Generic the Vandal invades and plunders Italy. 

■ Eudocia the Empress, wife of Theodosius, retires to Je- 
rusalem. 

■ — - Carthage taken by the Vandals. Kingdom of the Van- 
dals in Africa. 

440 5| Pope Leo the Great. 

442 Theodosius forced to make a disgraceful Peace with At- 

tila the Hun. 
- — Attila causes his brother Bleda to be murdered. 
445 The Britons in vain solicit the Romans to assist them 

against the Picts and Scots. 
- — Attila the Hun overruns Illyrium, Thrace, Dacia, Mossia, 

and Scythia. 

448 The Romans engage to pay a heavy Tribute of gold to 

Attila. 

449 3Ierovceus. King of the Franks. 

450 JMarcian Emperor of the East. 

Attila ravages Germany and France. 

451 Theodoric King of the Visigoths killed in battle. The 

Huns defeated by iEtius. 

The Saxons arrive in Britain under Hengist and Horsa. 

■ The fourth General Council held at Chalcedon. 

452 Foundation of the city of Venice. 

455 Petronius Maximus Emperor of the West. 
— — Avitus Emperor of the West, 

Rome taken and plundered by Genseric the Vandal. 

456 Childeric King of the Franks. 

457 Leo the Great Emperor of the East. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 19 

A.D. 

457 Majorianus Emperor of the West. 

461 Severus Emperor of the West, raised by Ricimer. 

^f Pope Hilarius. 

467 Anthemius Emperor of the West. 

468 Eric King of the Visigoths drives the Romans out of 

Spain. 
■ ^f Pope Simplicius. 

470 i£lla the Saxon takes possession of the Kingdom of Sus- 

sex. 

471 JEAla. defeats ail the British Princes. 

472 Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, seen from Constan- 

tinople. 
Olybius Emperor of the W^est. 

473 Glycerius, Emperorof the West, degraded and strip- 

ped by 

474 Julius Nepos Emperor of the West. 
Zeno Emperor of the East. 

475 Augustulus Romulus Emperor of the West, raised 

by his father Orestes, General of Nepos. 

476 Orestes put to death by Odoacer King of the Heruli. 
Rome taken by Odoacer, now King of Italy. 

Extinction of the Western Empire of the Romans 

507 years from the battle of Actium, and 1224 from 

the buildiag of Rome. 
481 Clovis King of the Franks. 
Zeno makes Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, his General, and 

creates him Consul. 
483 fl Pope Felix III. 
485 Battle of Soissons gained by Clovis. 
488 Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, entirely defeats Odoacer, and 

is acknowledged King of Italy by the Emperor Zeno. 

490 The Burgundians, under Gondebald, ravage Italy. 

■ Ireland, called the Isle of Saints, famous for its Schools. 

491 Anastasius Emperor of the East. 
493 Odoacer put to death by Theodoric, 

496 % Pope Anastasius II. 

497 Clovis and the Franks converted to Christianity. 

498 ^j Pope Symmachus. 

499 Alliance between Clovis and Theodoric the Great. 
500 

Gondebald, the Burgundian, becomes tributary to Clovis. 

501 The Burgundian Laws published by Gondebald. 

502 Cabades King of Persia ravages part of the Eastern Em- 

pire. 



3r CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A. D. 

504 The Eastern Empire makes peace with Cabades. 

507 Clovis defeats Alaric the Visigoth, and receives a congra- 

tulatory embassy, with a diadem, from Anastasius. 

508 Theodoric the Great defeats Clovis in the battle of Aries, 

and then makes peace with him. 
-— •? Arthur chosen Pendragor, or sovereign of the Cambrian 
British kingdom. 

510 Clovis makes Paris the Capital of the kingdom of the 

Franks. 

511 Death of Clovis. Division of his kingdom among his 

four sons. 
—.- - Childebert, Thierry, Clotaire, and Clodomir, Kings of the 
Franks. 

512 The Heruli allowed by Anastasius to settle in Thrace. 

514 ^f'Pope Hormisdas. 

515 Arthur king of the Britons supposed to have begun his 

reign. 

516 The Computation of Time by the Christian iEra intro- 

duced bv Dionysius the Monk. 
B\7 The Getae ravage Illyrium, Macedonia, and Epirus. 

518 Justin I, Emperor of the East, raised from obscu- 

rity. 

519 Justin restores the Orthodox Bishops, and condemns the 

Eutychians. 
=-=- Cabades King of Persia proposes that Justin should adopt 

his son Cosroes, and makes war on a refusal. 
523 5[ Pope John I. 

525 The Arian Bishops deposed by Justin, and this act highly 

resented by Theodoric. 
?— « ■» Antioch and many other cities almost destroyed by an 
earthquake, and rebuilt by Justin, who adopts his 
nephew Justinian. 

526 Theodoric puts to death Boethius and Symmachus. 
= — If Pope Felix IV. 

527 Justinian I, Emperor of the East. 

529 Belisarius, General of Justinian, defeats the Persians. 
- — The Books of the Civil Law published by Justinian. 

530 51 Pope Boniface II. 

532 Justinian congratulates Cosroes on succeeding to the throne 

of Persia, and concludes a perpetual peace with him. 
= — - Great insurrection at Constantinople quelled with prodi- 
gious slaughter by Belisarius. 

533 Athalaric King of the Ostrogoths dies, and \s succeeded 

by his mother Amalasonta. 
— % Pope John II. 

534 Theodobert King of Metz* 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 21 

A. D. 

534 Belisarius defeats Gelimer and the Vandals in Africa. 

535 5J Pope Agapetus. 

536 51 Pope Sylvester. 

537 Belisarius subdues the Ostrogoths in Italy, and takes 

Rome. 

538 51 Pope Vigilius. 

540 Belisarius refuses to accept the Crown of Italy. 
543 Totila, the Goth, recovers Italy from the Romans. 

547 Totila takes and plunders Rome. 

548 Theobald King- of Metz. 

549 Rome retaken by Belisarius. 

550 Commencement of the Kingdom of Poland under Lechus. 
- — ■ Rome recovered by Totila. 

551 The manufacture of Silk introduced into Europe. 

553 Totila defeated by Narses the Eunuch, and put to death. 
555 51 Pope Pelagius I. 

558 The Huns, breaking into Thrace, are defeated by Belisa- 

rius. 

559 Belisarius degraded, and ungratefully treated by Justinian. 
— — Clotaire sole King of France. 

560 5J Pope John III. 

> Belisarius restored to his Honours and Command. 

562 Caribert, Gontran, Sigebert, and Chilperic, Kitigs of France. 

565 Justin II Emperor of the East. 

566 Narses, recalled from Italy, invites the Lombards to take 

possession of the country. 
568 Italy conquered by the Lombards. 
571 Birth of Mahomet the false Prophet. 
574 51 Pope Benedict I. 
578 Tiberius II Emperor of the East. 

5f Pope Pelagius II. 

580 The Latin Tongue ceases to, be spoken in Italy about this 

time. . 
582 Maurice Emperor of the East. 
584 Clotaire II King of Soissons. 
590 Antioch again destroyed, with 30000 inhabitants, by an 

Earthquake. 
*» — 51 Pope Gregory the Great. 
596 Thierry II and Theodobert II Kings of Paris and Aus-% 

trasia. 

Augustine the Monk converts the Saxons to Christianity. 

600 

602 Phocas Emperor of the East acknowledges the Su, 

premacy of the Popes. 
604 51 Pope Sabinianus. 
607 5] Pope Boniface IV. 



22 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

607 The Pantheon at Rome dedicated to God, the Virgin, and 

the Saints. 

608 5[ Pope Boniface IV. 

609 The Jews of Antioch massacre the Christians. 
611 Heraclius Emperor of the East. 

613 The French Maires du Palais first introduced by Clotaire 

as Regents. 

614 Clotaire. II sole King of France. 

- — Queen Brunechilda, accused of numberless crimes, is put 
to death by Clotaire II. 

615 5{ Pope Deus-dedit. 

616 Jerusalem taken by the Persians under Cosroes II. 
618 5J Pope Boniface V. 

622 Era of the Hegyra, or Flight of Mahomet from Mecca to 

Medina. 
625 51 Pope Honorius I. 
The Persians under Cosroes II, with the Huns, Abari, 

and Sclavonians, besiege Constantinople. 
628 Dagobert and Charibert Kings of France. 

632 Death of Mahomet. Abubeker succeeds him as Caliph of 

the Saracens. 

633 Abubeker dies, and is succeeded by Omar in the Cali- 

phate. 

636 Jerusalem taken by Omar and the Saracens, who keep pos- 
session of it 463 years. 

638 Sigebert II and Clovis II Kings of France. 

640 51 Pope Severinus. 
. ^ pope John IV. 

— — The Library of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Phila- 
delphus, is burnt by the Saracens. 

641 Constantine, Emperor of the East for a few months, 

poisoned by his step- mother. 
, Heraclionas and Tiberius III Emperors of the East. 

642 Constans, son of Constantine, Emperor of the East, 
-. 51 Pope Theodoras. 

645 Otman succeeds Omar in the Caliphate. 

648 Cyprus taken by the Saracens under Mawia. 

649 5| Pope Martin I. 

653 The Saracens take Rhodes, and destroy the Colossus. 

654 Childeric II King of Anstrasia. 
51 Pope Eugenius I. 

655 Ali Caliph of Arabia. Mawia Caliph of Egypt. 

657 51 Pope Vitalianus. 

658 The Saracens obtain Peace of the Emperor Constans, and 

agree to pay a yearly tribute. 
668 Constantius V (Pogonatus) Emperor of the East. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 23 

A.D. 

669 Sicily ravaged by the Saracens. 
672 51 Pope Adeodatus. 

672 The Saracens ineffectually besiege Constantinople. Their 
fieet destroyed by the Greek Fire used by Callinicus. 

675 The Saracens attempt to land in Spain, but are repulsed by 

Wamba King of the Visigoths. 

676 ^| Pope Donus. 

679 Thierry IV King of all France. 
<[f Pope Agatho. 

680 The sixth General or Oecumenical Council of Constantino- 

ple. 
682 fl Pope Leo II. 

684 ^| Pope Benedict II. 

685 % Pope John V. 

Justinian II Emperor of the East. 

The Britons, totally subdued by the Saxons, retreat into 

Wales and Cornwall. 

686 ^[ Pope Conon. 

Ceadwalla King of Wessex subdues Sussex and Kent. 

687 ^[ Pope Sergius. 

690 Pepin Heristel, Maire du Palais, defeats Thierry, and ac- 
quires the chief power in France. 
692 Clovis III King of France. 

694 Justinian II dethroned, mutilated, and banished by Leon- 

tius. 

695 Childebert III King of France. 

Leontius Emperor of the East. Dethroned and mu- 
tilated by 

697 Apsimar, or Tiberius, Emperor of the East. 

699 The Saracens defeated by John the Patrician. 

700 

The Saracens again defeated with great slaughter by He- 

raclius, brother of Tiberius. 

701 ^ Pope John VI. 

704 Justinian II escapes from prison, defeats Tiberius, and is 
restored to the throne. 

707 Justinian II defeated by the Bulgarians. 

708 *\\ Pope Sisinnius. 
^f Pope Constantine. 

711 Philippicus Bardanes, Emperor of the East. 
■ — - Dagobert III King of France. 

713 Anastasius II Emperor of the East. 

Spain conquered by the Saracens under Muon, the gene- 
ral of the Caliph Walid. 

714 51 Pope Gregory II. 
Theodosius Emperor of the East. 



24 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

714 Charles Martel, Maire du Palais^ governs all France for 

26 years. 
716 Childeric II King of France. 

Leo (the Isurian) Emperor of the East. 

720 Omar II besieges Constantinople without success. 

Thierry IV King of France. 

726 Leo forbids the Worship of Images, which occasions a 

great rebellion of his subjects. The Pope defends the 

practice. 

728 Leo orders Pope Gregory to be seized and sent to Con- 

stantinople ; but the order is frustrated, and Leo confis- 
cates the Imperial Domains of Sicily and Calabria. 

729 The Saracens ravage Gallia Narbonnensis. 

731 ^ Pope Gregory III. 

732 Charles' Martel defeats the Saracens between Tours and 

Poictiers. 

736 Leo persecutes the Monks. 

737 Death of Pelagius, who preserved the Christian Monarch} 

in Asturia. 

740 The Duchy of Spoleto seized by the Normans. Recover- 

ed by the Pope. 

741 ^j Pope Zachary. 

742 Childeric III King of France. 

— - Constantine (Copronymus) Emperor of the East. 
An enemy to images and saint- worship. 

743 He defeats and puts to death Artabazdus, who had seized 

Constantinople. 
745 He destroys the fleet of the Saracens. 
749 The Race of the Abassidae become Caliphs of the Saracens. 

751 Pepin (le BrefJ King of France^ founder of the Carlovin- 

gian Race. 

752 <f| Pope Stephen III. 

753 Astolphus King of the Lombards erects the Dukedom of 

Ravenna, and claims from the Pope the Dukedom of 
Rome. 

754 Pope Stephen requests the assistance of Pepin against the 

Lombards. 

— — Pepin invades Italy, and strips Astolphus of his new pos- 
sessions, conferring them on the Pope as a temporal so- 
vereignty. 

— Almanzor Caliph of the Saracens, a great encourager of 
learning. 

756 Desiderius, or Didier, proclaimed King of the Lombards, 
with the Pope's consent. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 2$ 

A. D. 

756 Abdalrahman I takes the title of King of Cordova, and is 

the founder of the splendid dominion of the Moprs in 
Spain. 

757 51 Pope Paul I renews the alliance with Desiderius. 
759 51 Pope Stephen III quarrels with Desiderius. 

762 Almanzor builds Ragdat, and makes it the seat of the Em- 
pire of the Caliphs. 

767 The Turks ravage Asia Minor. 

768 Charks (the Great) and Carloman, Kings of trance. 
5[ Pope Stephen IV. 

770 Constantine dissolves the Monasteries in the East* 
772 Charlemagne sole Monarch of France. 

He makes war against the Saxons. 

51 P°p e Adrian I. 

774 Charlemagne defeats Desiderius, and puts an end to the 

Kingdom of the Lombards, which had subsisted 206 
years. 

775 Leo IV Emperor of the East. 

778 Battle of Roncezvalles between the Christians and Moors 

in Spain, where Rolando is killed. 

779 Charlemagne conquers Navarre and Sardinia. 

781 Constantine (Porphyrogenitus) Emperor of the East. 
— ~ Irene, Empress, is Regent in her son's minority, and keeps 

him in entire subjection. 
She re-establishes the worship of images. 

785 Charlemagne subdues the Saxons. 

■ Haroun Alraschid Caliph of the Saracens. 

■ He invades and ravages a part of the empire. 

786 Constantine assumes the government of the Empire, and 

imprisons his mother, 

787 The Danes first land in England. 

- — The seventh General Council, or second of Nice. 
788. Irene puts to death her son Constantine, and is proclaimed 
sole Empress. 

793 Irene proposes to Mary Charlemagne, which being disap- 

proved by her subjects, she. is' dethroned, and confined 
to a monastery. 
— -*— Nicephorus Emperor of the East. Here begins the 
lower or Greek Empire. 

794 Charlemagne de feats and extirpates the Huns. 

795 5| Pope Leo III. 

797 The Saracens ravage Cappadocia, Cyprus, Rhodes, &c. 
— — Nicephorus associates his son Saturacius in the empire. 



800 



New Empire of the West. Charlemagne crowned Em- 
peror at Rome. 



26 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

807 Haroun Alraschid courts the alliance of Charlemagne. 
811 Michael (Curopalates) Emperor of the East. 

813 Leo (the Armenian) Emperor of the East. 

— — Almamon, Caliph of the Saracens, a great encourager of 
learning. 

814 Lezvis- (le Debonnaire) Emperor and King of France. 

816 The Eastern Empire ravaged by Earthquakes, Famine, 

Conflagrations, &c. 
— - 51 Pop e Stephen V. 

817 5[ Pope Pascal I. 

= Lewis (le Deb.) divides the empire among his sons. 

821 Michael (Balbus or the Stammerer) Emperor of the 

East. 
824 51 P°-' Eugene II. 

827 4£g]&ett unites the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. 

Beginning of the kingdom of England. 
. — _ 5| Pope Valentine. 

828 51 Pope Gregory IV. 

829 Theophilns Emperor of the East. 
838 CtfjeftOClf King of England. 

— The Slocs under Kenneth entirely subdue the Piets. 

840 LO'IHARIUS Emperor of Germany. 
=■ Charles (the Bald J King of France. 

841 Lotharius defeated by his two brothers in the battle of Fon- 

tcnai, and deposed. 

842 LEWIS (of Bavaria) Emperor of Germany. 

— Michael III Emperor of the East. 

843 The Normans plunder the city of Kouen. 

844 5| Pope Sergius III. 

845 The Normans plunder Hamburgh, and penetrate into Ger- 

many.* 

847 5] Pope Leo IV. 

848 The Venetian Fleet destroyed by the Saracens. 

851 51 P°P e J oan supposed to have filled the Papal chair for twe 

years. 
T — Basilius associated Emperor of the East. 
855 LEWIS //Emperor of Germany. 

857 €tf)ttli)aftl and dStijeiiieit Kings of England. 

858 51 P°P fc Nicholas I. 

866 CDtjjeltetJ King of England. 

867 The Danes ravage England. 

— — Basilius sole Emperor of the East. 

s 51 P°P e Adrian II. 

=— — Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, excommunicates 
Pope Adrian,, 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 2? 

A. D. 
872 Alfred (the Great) King of England. 

5[ Pope John VIII. 

875 CHARLES (the Bald) Emperor of Germany. 

Harold Harfagor unites the provinces of Norway j con- 

quers Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides. 
877 LEWIS (the Stammerer) Emperor of Germany and King 

of France. 

879 Lexvis III and Carloman, Kings of France. 
The Kingdom of Aries begins. 

880 CHARLES (the Gross) Emperor of Germany and King 

of France. 

Ravages of the Normans in France. 

882 fl Pope Marinus. 

884 5| Pope Adrian III. 

886 Leo (the Philosopher) Emperor of the East. 

886 The University of Oxford founded by Alfred. 

887 ARNOLD Emperor of Germany. 

The Normans besiege Paris, which is gallantly defended 

by Bishop Goselin and Count Eudes. 

888 Eudes or Odo King of France. 

890 Alfred the Great composes his Code of Laws, and divides 

England into Counties, Hundreds, and Tithings. 

891 51 Pope Formosus. 

896 5| Pope Stephen VII. 

897 5[ Pope John IX. 

898 Charles III (the Simple) King of France. 
900 

5[ Pope Benedict IV. 

LEWIS IV Emperor of Germany. 

901 Cj;t!teart! (the Elder) succeeds Alfred as King of 
England. 

904 5J Pope Leo V. 

905 5[ Pope Sergius III. 

911 CONRAD /Emperor of Germany. 

Constantine IX Emperor of the East. 

912 The Normans are established in Normandy under Rollo. 

913 5[ Pope Anastasius. 

914 51 Pope Landon. 

915 Constantine and Romanus Emperors of the East. 
51 Pope John X. 

i- — The University of Cambridge founded by Edward the El- 
der. 
920 HENR T (the Fowler) Emperor of Germany, 
923 Rodolph King of France. 
925 0tM£t0l1 King of England. 



28 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A. D. 

928 fl Pope Leo VI. 

929 fl Pope Stephen VIII. 
931 fl Pope John XI. 

— — Rise of the Republic of Pisa. 

936 OTHO (the Great) Emperor of Germany. 

— If Pope Leo VII.' 

— — Lewis IV (cPQutremer) King of France. 

939 fl Pope Stephen IX. 

940 Howel-Dha, King of Wales, an eminent Lawgiver. 

941 (StmtUlttl I King of England. 
943 fl Pope Marinus XIII. 

946 ^j Pope Agapet. 

948 (ferret! King of England.. 

954 Lotharius King of France. 

955 Gfctrt&H King of England. 

956 ^| Pope John XII. 

959 Romanus II Emperor of the East. 
G£&gat' King of England. 

963 *} Pope Leo VIII. 

— — Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the East. 

964 Othothe Great conquers Italy. 

965 U Pope John XIII. 

967 Antioch recovered from the Saracens by Nicephori - 
969 John Zemisses Emperor of the East. . 

972 fl Pope Benedict VL 

973 OTHO II Emperor of Germany 

974 ^| Pope Boniface VII. 

975 «ft Pope Benedict VII. 

- — Basilius and Constantine X Emperors of the East. 

976 @ms)0lt3 II King of England. 
978 (fctljdret? II King of England. 

983 OTHO III Emperor of Germany. 

984 % Pope John XIV. 

986 fl Pope John XV. 

— Lewis V (le Faineant) King of France. 

987 Hugh Capet, King of France, founder of the Third Race oj 

the French Kings. 
991 The Arabic numeral Cyphers first introduced into Europe, 
996 Robert (the Wise J King of France. 
=— — % Pope Gregory V. 
999 fl Pope Silvester IL 
1000 

1002 Henry II Emperor of Germany. 

■— • Great Massacre of the Danes by Ethelred King of Eng- 
land* 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 2.9 

A.D. 

1003 U Pope John XVI. 

- % Pope John XVII. 

1004 ^T Pope John XVIII. 

1005 Churches first built in the Gothic style. 
1009 5[ Pope Sergius IV. 

1012 5J Pope Benedict VIII. 

1013 The Danes, under Sueno, get possession of England. 

1015 The Manichean Doctrines prevalent in France and Italy. 

1016 C^mutUi II (Ironside) King of England. 

Six Battles fought with the Danes under Canute in En- 

gland. 

1017 €anntt the Dane (the Great) King of England. 

1018 The Normans invade Italy. 

1024 5| Pope John XIX or XX. 

CONRAD II (the Salic) Emperor of Germany. 

1025 ^ Musical Characters invented by Guido Aretino* 
1028 Romanus Argyrus Emperor of the East, 
1031 Henry I King of France. 

1033 % Pope Benedict IX. 

1034 Michael IV Emperor of the East. 
1036 ^ataiti (Harefoot) King of England. 
1039 HENRT ///Emperor of Germany" 

- — — Canute II or ^'ariiieamite King of England. 

-— — Macbeth usurps the Throne of Scotland by the murder o\ 
Duncan. 

1041 CtitsattJ III (the Confessor) King of England, re- 
stores the Saxon^ line. 

1041 Michael (Calaphales) Emperor of the East. . 

1042 Constantine (Monomachns) Emperor of the East. 

1043 The Turks, under Tangrolipix, subdue Persia. 

1045 «J Pope Gregory VI. 

1046 <\\ Pope Clement II. 

1048 5j Pope Damasus II. 

1049 51 Pope Leo IX, the first Pope who maintained a regular 

army. 

1054 Theodora Empress of the East. 

- — — Pope Leo IX taken prisoner by the Normans. 

1055 5[ Pope Victor II. 

— — The Turks take Bagdat, and overturn the Empire of the 
Caliphs. 

1056 HENRT IF Emperor of Germany. 

1057 Malcolm III (Canmore) King of Scotland, 

« Isaac (Comnenus) Emperor of the Easi 

™— *} Pope Stephen X« 



30 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

1058 % Pope Nicholas II. 

■ The Saracens driven out of Sicily by Robert Guiscard the 

Norman. 

1059 Constantine XII (Ducas) Emperor of the East. 
1050 Philip J King- of France. 

1061 51 Pope Alexander II. 

» Rise of the faction of the Guelphs and Ghibelline> 

1065 The Turks take Jerusalem from the Saracens. 

1056 l^aroit) II King of England reigned nine months. 

(ftlltliiattt (die Conqueror) King of England. 

1068 Romanus Diogenes Emperor of the East. 

Edgar Atheling seeks refuge in Scotland. 

„_ Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, married to Malcolm 

King of Scotland. 

1070 The Feudal Law introduced into England. 

1071 Michael Ducas Emperor of the East. 
10T3 51 Pope Gregory VII. 

1076 The Emperor Henry IV excommunicated and deposed by 

the Pope. 
107SNicephorus (Boton) Emperor of the East. 
1079 Doomsday-book begun by William the Conqueror, 
1081 Alexius I (Comnenus) Emperor of the East. 

Henry IV Emperor besieges Rome. 

1084 He is re-crowned Emperor of Germany. 

1086 5j Pope Victor III. 

1087 51 Pope Urban II. . 

ijEliliiamsH (Rufus) King of England. 

1093 St. Margaret Queen of Scotland died. 

JLyonald Bane King of Scotland. 

1095 JL/uncan II King of Scotland. 

i , The first Crusade to the Holy Land. Peter the Hermit. 

Institution of the order of the Knights of Jerusalem. 

1098 The Crusaders take Antioch. 

1098 iLdgar King of Scotland. 

1099 Jerusalem taken by Godfrey of Boulogne. The Knights 

of St. John instituted. 
5j Pope Pascal II. 

1100 

. l^envp I (Bcauclerc) King of England. 

1102 Guiscard of Normandy takes the title of King of Naples. 
1104 Baldwin King of Jerusalem takes Ptolemais, 

1106 HENRY V Emperor of Germany. 

1107 Alexander I King of Scotland. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 31 

A. D. 
1108 Lewis VI (le Gross) King of France. 

1118 5j Pope Gelasius II. 

— The order of Knights Templars instituted. 

John (Comncnus) Emperor of the East, 

1119 U Pope Calixtus II. 

1124 David I King of Scotland. 

5} Pope Honorius II. 

1125 LO THARIUS II E mperor of Germany. 
1130 5} Pope Innocent II. 

1135 ibtepJien King of England. 

1137 Lewis VII (le J eune) King of France. Married to Eleanor 

of Guienne. 
• The Pandects of the Roman Law discovered at Amalphi. 

1138 CONRAD ///Emperor of Germany. 

The Scots, under David I, defeated by the English in the 

battle of the Standard. 

1 139 Alphonso I King of Portugal rescues his kingdom from the 

Saracens. 

1140 The Canon Law first introduced into England. 

1141 Stephen King of England taken prisoner in the battle of 

Lincoln by the troops of Matilda. 

1143 He recovers his kingdom. 

5J Pope Cselestinus II. 

Manuel (Comnenus) Emperor of the East 

1144 5f Pope Lucius II. 

1145 «] Pope Eugene III. 

1147 The second Crusade excited by St. Bernard. 

1150 The study of the Civil Law revived at Bologna. 

1151 The Canon Law is collected by Gratian, a monk of Bologna. 

1152 FREDERICK / (Barbarossa) Emperor of Germany. 

1153 Malcolm IV King of Scotland. 

51 Pope Anastasius IV. 

Treaty of Winchester. Compromise between King Stephen 

and Prince Henry. 

1154 !^Cttrp II (Plantagenet) King of England. 

Pope Adrian IV. 

— — The parties of the Guelphs and Ghibellines disturb Italy. 

1157 The bank of Venice instituted. 

1 158 Interview between Henry II and Malcolm IV at Carlisle, 

1159 51 Pope Alexander III. 

1160 The Albigenses maintain heretical doctrines. 

1164 Institution of the order of Teutonic Knights in Germany. 
T. Becket condemned by the Council of Clarendon. 



1165 W iljiam (the Lion) King of Scotland, 



32 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLLc 

A.D. 

1171 Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. 

1180 Phitip Augustus King of France. 

1181 Alexius II (Comnenus) Emperor of the East 
1183 5} Pope Lucius III. 

— Andronicus (Comnenus) Emperor of the E^st 
1185 5} Pope Urban III. 

-— — Isaac Angelus Emperor of the East. 

1187 5j Pope Gregory VIII. 

The city of Jerusalem taken by Saladin. 

1188 51 Pope Clement III. 

1189 KicJjatts I (CtEur de Lion) King of England. 

— — The third Crusade under Richard I and Philip Augustus- 

1 190 HENR T VI Emperor of Germany. 

1191 51 Pope Caelestinus III. 

1192 Richard I, defeats Saladin in the battle of Ascalon. 
~ — - Guy of Lusignan King of Jerusalem. 

1195 Alexius Angelus (the Tyrant) Emperor of tjhe East 

1198 PHILIP Emperor of Germany. 

5J Pope Innocent III. 

1199 jojjn King of England, 
1200 

1202 The fourth Crusade sets out from Venice. 

Constantinople taken by the French and Venetians. 

1203 Alexius and Murbzuphlus Emperors of the East. 

1204 Baldwin I Emperor of Constantinople, and Theo- 

dore I (Lascaris) Emperor of Nicaea. 

The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. 

1206 Henry Emperor of Constantinople. 

1208 OTHO IV Emperor of Germany. 

■ London incorporated, obtains a Charter for electing its 

Mayor and Magistrates. 
1210 Crusade against the Albigenses, under Simon de Montfort. 
1212 FREDERICK II Emperor of Germany. 

1214 XlLlexander II King of Scotland. 

1215 Magna Charta signed by King John. 

1216 i^entp III King of England. 

Peter and John Ducas, Emperors of the East 

1219 Robert Emperor of the East. 

. Damietta taken by the Crusaders. 

1223 Lewis VIII King of France. 

1226 5| Pope Honorius III. 

St. Lezvis IX King of France. 

— — - Institution of the Orders of St. Dominic and St, Francis. 

1227 5| Pope Gregory IX. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 3*3 

A. D. 

1227 Gengiskan and the Tartars overrun the empire of the 

Saracens. 

1228 Baldwin II French Emperor of Constantinople. 
1234 The Inquisition committed to the Dominican Monks. 
1237 Russia brought under subjection by the Tartars. 
1241 51 Fope Cselestinus IV. 

1243 1J Pope Innocent IV. 

1248 The fifth Crusade under St. Lewis. 

1249 Alexander III King of Scotland. 
1251 CONRAD IV Emperor of Germany. 

1254 5} Pope Alexander IV. 

■ ■ Interregnum in the empire of Germany, from the death of 

Conrad IV in 1254, to the election of Rodolph in 1273. 

1255 Theodore II (Lascaris) Emperor of Nicsea. 

1258 Bagdat taken by the Tartars. End of the empire of the 

Saracens. 

1259 John (Lascaris) Emperor of Nicaea. 

1260 Michael (Palseologus) Emperor of Nicasa. 
= ■ The Flagellants preach Baptism by Blood. 

1261 II Pope Urban IV. 

= — — The Greek Emperors recover Constantinople from the 
French. 

1263 The Norwegians invade Scotland, and are defeated by 

Alexander III in the battle of Largs. 

1264 5[ Pope Clement IV. 

The Deputies of Boroughs first summoned to Parliament 

in England. 
i Henry III of England taken prisoner in the battle of 

Lewes. 

1265 Charles Count of Anjou King of Sicily. 

1270 Philip III (the Bold) King of France. 

1271 ^f Pope Gregory X. 

1272 (2;S5tK>arO I (Longshanks) King of England. 

1273 RODOLPH (of Hapsburgh) Emperor of Germany, first 

of the Austrian family. 

1276 5[ Pope Innocent V. 
i — — 5f Pope Adrian V. 

5j Pope John XXI. 

1277 5} Pope Nicholas III. 

1281 5j Pope Martin IV. 

1282 The Sicilian Vespers, when 8000 French were massacred, 

1283 Andronicus I (Palse-ologus) Emperor of the East, 
= The Conquest of Wales by Edward I. 

1285 f| Pope Honorius IV. 



34. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A. D. 

1285 Philip IV (the Fair J King of France. 

1286 IVAargaret (of Norway) Queen of Scotland. 
1288 If Pope Nicholas IV. 

1290 Interregnum in Scotland for two years. Competition be- 

tween Bruce and Baliol for the crown, decided by Ed- 
ward I. 

1291 Ptolemais taken by the Turks. End of the Crusades. 

1292 J ohn Baliol King of Scotland. 

■ ADOLPHUS (of Nassau) Emperor of Germany. 
- ■■■ ^j Pope C^lestinus V. 

1293 From this year there is a regular succession of English Par- 

liaments. 

1294 ^[ Pope Boniface VIII. 

1295 Michael Andronicus Emperor of the East. 

1296 Interregnum in Scotland for eight years. Sir William 

Wallace nobly supports the liberty of his country, de- 
feats the English at Sterling, and drives them out of 
the kingdom. 

1298 Wallace chosen regent of Scotland, defeated at Falkirk. 

ALBERT I (pi Austria) Emperor of Germany. 

=-= — - The present Turkish Empire begins under Ottoman in 
Bithynia. 

1300 

1301 Quarrel between Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII. 

1302 Comyn and Fraser defeat the English thrice in one day. 

; — ;— _ The Mariner's Compass said to be discovered at Naples. 

1304 Wallace betrayed, delivered up, and put to death by Ed- 

ward I. 

1305 51 Pope Clement V. 

1306 XiLobert I (Bruce) King of Scotland. 
£307 The establishment of the Swiss Republics. 
.. Qj;£rt»ar$J II King of Engand. 

1308 HENRT II Emperor of Germany. 

— The seat of the Popes transferred to Avignon for seventy 

years. 

1310 Rhodes taken by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 

1311 Pierce Gaveston, favourite of Edward II, put to death. 

1312 The Knights Templars suppressed by Philip the Fair. 
1314 The Scots under Robert Bruce defeat the English under 

Edward II at Bannockburn. 
— — - LEIViS V (of Bavaria) Emperor of Germany. 
Lewis X (Huttin) King of France. 
John King of France , 
«f[ Pope John XXI t 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 35 

A. D. 
1316 Philip V (the Long) King of France* 

1320 Andronicus II (Palseologus) Emperor of the East* 

1321 Charles IV (the Fair) King of France, 

1327 (fctmjartl III King of England. 

1328 Philip Vl(ofVahis) King of France. 

^Orchanes, or Urchn Emperor of the Turks. 

1329 JL/ avid II King of Scotland. Randolph Earl of Murray 

Regent. 

1331 The Teutonic Knights settle in Prussia. 

1332 Edward Baliol, assisted by Edward III, is crowned at 

Scone King of Scots, but is soon driven out of the King- 
dom. 

1333 Casimir III (the Great) King of Poland. 

1334 fl Pope Benedict XII. 

1340 Gunpowder invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologne. 
Oil Painting invented by John Van Eyk. 

1341 John V (Palseologus) Emperor of the East. 
John Cantacuzenos, his tutor, usurps the throne. 

1342 fl Pope Clement VI. 

1346 Battle of Cressy won by Edward III and the Black Prince 

over the French. 

Battle of Durham, in which David II of Scotland is taken 

prisoner. 

1 347 CHARLES IV Emperor of Germany. 

Nicola Rienzi assumes the Government of Rome. 

1350 The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III. 

Peter (the Cruel) King of Castile. 

1351 John I King of France. 

1352 <f[ Pope Innocent VI. 

The Turks first enter Europe. 

1356 The battle of Poictiers, in which John II King of France 

is taken prisoner, and afterward brought to London. 
1359 ^ Amurath I Emperor of the Turks. 
1362 <ft Pope Urban V. 

The Law-pleadings in England changed from French to 

English. 
1364 Charles V King of France. 
1370 Pope Gregory XI. 

Xvobert II King of Scotland. 

1377 The Seat of the Popes removed back from Avignon fp 

Rome. 

- ftugatt) II King of England. 

Wickliffe's Doctrines propagated in England. 

1378 The Schism of the double Popes at Rome and Avignon 

begins, and continues thirty-eight years. 



36 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A. D. 

1378 fl Pope Urban VI of Rome. 

1378 ^j Pope Clement VII of Avignon. 

. WENCESLAUS, Emperor of Germany, deposed in 1400, 

1380 Charles VI King of France. 

— Tamerlane invades and subdues Chorassar. 

1381 Wat Tyler's and Jack Straw's Insurrection in England. 
— Peace between Venice and Genoa. 

«= Bills of Exchange first used in England. 

1383 Cannon first used by the English in the defence of Calais. 

1384 Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, succeeds to the Earl- 

dom of Flanders. 
1386 Tamerlane subdues Georgia. 

1388 Battle of Otterburn between Percy (Hotspur) and Douglas. 

1389 % Pope Boniface IX. 

1390 Ivobert III King of Scotland. 

1391 Manuel II (Palasologus) Emperor of the East. 

1392 The Cape of Good Hope discovered by the Portuguese. 

1394 The Jews banished from France by Charles VI. 
5[ Pope Benedict XIII. 

1395 Sigismund King of Hungary defeated by Bajazet I. 

1398 Tamerlane subdues part of Hindostan, and takes Delhy. 

1399 ^$tmp IV King of England. 
1400 

1402 Bajazet is taken prisoner by Tamerlane in the battle oi 

Angoria. 
„_ — v_^ Solyman I Emperor of the Turks. 

1403 Battle of Shrewsbury, in which Hotspur is killed-. 

1404 5j Pope Innocent VII. 

1405 Death of Tamerlane. 

1406 J .imes I King of Scotland. 
. Pope Gregory XII. 

1409 Council of Pisa, where Pope Gregory is deposed. 
i ^ Musa Emperor of the Turks. 

= — — ^] Pope Alexander V. 

1410 JOSSE (Marquis of Brandenburgh) Emperor of Germany. 
- If Pope John XXIII. 

1411 SIGISMUND Emperor of Germany. 

= The University of St. Andrew's in Scotland founded. 

1413 I^ettrp V King of England. 

1414 Council of Constance, in which two Popes were deposed, 

and the Popedom remained vacant for near three years*, 
„. — _ ^ Mahomet I Emperor of the Turks. 

1415 Henry V defeats the French at Agincourt, 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 37 

A. D. 

1415 John Huss condemned by the council of Constance for 

heresy, and burnt. 

1416 Jerome of Prague condemned by the same council,, and 

burnt. 

1417 5| Pope Martin V. 

— — Paper first made from linen rags. 

1420 The island of Madeira discovered by the Portuguese. 

1421 John VI (Palaologus) Emperor of the East. 

1422 A murath besieges Constantinople. 

. ^ Amu-rath II Emperor of the Turks. 

ipeill'p VI King of England. 

Charles VII King of France. 

. James I King of Scots liberated from captivity by the 

English. 
1225 The Court of Session in Scotland instituted by James I. 
1428 Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, compels the English 

to raise the siege of Orleans. 
1431 5| Pope Eugene IV. 

Rise of the Medici family at Florence. 

1436 Paris recovered by the French from the English. 

1337 J ames II King of Scotland. 

1438 ALBERT //Emperor of Germany. 

1439 Reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. 

The Pragmatic Sanction established in France. 

1440 FREDERICK III Emperor of Germany. 

Invention of the art of Printing by John Guttenberg at 

Strasburg. 

1444 Ladislaus King of Hungary killed in battle with the Turks. 

1445 Constantine (Palzeologus) Emperor of the East, 

1446 Great Inundation of the sea in Holland. 

1447 *\\ Pope Nicholas V. 

— — Rise of the Sforza Family at Milan. 

1450 ^ Mahomet II Emperor of the Turks. 

1453 Constantinople taken by the Turks. Extinction of the 

Eastern Empire or the Romans, 

End of the English government in France. 

1455 % Pope Calixtus III. 

Battle of St. Alban's, where Henry VI is taken prisoner by 

the Duke of York. 

1458 <ft Pope Pius II (./Eneas Sylvius.) 

1459 The art of Engraving on copper invented. 

1460 J ames III King of Scotland. 

Battle of Wakefield, in which the Duke of York is killed, 

1461 Cdtoarti IV King of England. 



38 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A.D;. 

1461 Lewis XI King of France. 

1470 Henry VI restored to the throne of England. 

1471 Battle of Barnet, where Warwick is killed. Battle of 

Tewksbury, where the Lancastrians are totally defeated. 

— — Edward IV restored. Prince Edward of Lancaster basely 
murdered by Clarence and Gloucester. Death of Hen- 
ry VI. 

— - — *fl Pope Sixtus IV. 

1474 The Cape de Verd Islands discovered by the Portuguese. 

1475 Edward IV invades France. Peace of Pecquigni pur- 

chased by the French. 

1479 Ferdinand and Isabella unite the kingdoms of Arragon and 

Castile. 
.____ Russia freed from subjection to the Tartars by John 

Basilowitz. 
1481 ^ Bajazet II Emperor of the Turks. 

1480 Charles VIII King of France. 

(25titt»arj! V King of England. Duke of Glouces- 

ter Protector. 
— — Edward V and his brother murdered. 
— — IflicDaiU III King of England. 

1484 fl Pope Innocent VIII. 

1485 Battle of Bos worth, in which Richard III is killed. 

— — - |p#nrg VII King of England, first of the house of 
Tudor. Union of the houses of York and Lan- 
caster. 

1488 J ames IV King of Scotland. 

1491 Granada taken by Ferdinand and Isabella. End of the 

Kingdom of the Moors in Spain. 

1492 5| Pope Alexander VI (Borgia.) 

I . Hispaniola and Cuba discovered by Christopher Columbus. 

1493 MAXAMILIAN I Emperor of Germany. 

1494 Expedition of Charles VIII into Naples. 
j Algebra first known in Europe. 

America discovered by Columbus. 

1497 The Portuguese, under Vasco de Gama, double the Cape 

of Good Hope, and sail to the East Indies. 

1498 Lexvis XII King of France. 

Savanarola burnt by Pope Alexander VI for preaching 

against the vices of the clergy. 

1499 Lewis XII takes possession of the Milanese. 

Sebastian Cabot lands in North America. 

1500 

- — — Brazil discovered by the Portuguese. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 39 

A.D. m I ■ 

1500 Maximilian divides Germany into six Circles, and! adds 
four more in 1512. 

1503 If Pope Pius III. 
p 5J Pope Julius II. 

, Battle of Cerizoles, in which the French lose Naples, 

1504 Philip I King of Spain. 1506 Jane his Queen. 

1507 Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese. 

1508 League of Cambray against the Venetians. 

1509 f$mtp VIII King of England. \ 
1509 Battle of Agnadello, May 14. 

1511 Cuba conquered by the Spaniards. 

• v*j Selim I Emperor of the Turks. \ 

1512 The French defeat the Venetians in the battle of Ravenna. 

1513 Battle of Flodden, fatal to the Scots. 

■ J ames V King of Scotland. 
fl Pope Leo X. 

1515 Francis I King of France. 

1516 Charles I (Emperor Charles V) King of Spain. 
i Barbarossa seizes the Kingdom of Algiers. 

1517 The Reformation in Germany begun by Luther. 

. The Turks put an end to the reign of the Mamelukes in 

Egypt. 

1518 Leo X condemns Luther's Doctrines. 

1519 CHARLES V Emperor of Germany, 
Magellan explores the South Seas. 

1520 Sweden and Denmark united. 

v_£ Solyman III the Magnificent Emperor of the Turks* 

— — Massacre at Stockholm by Christiern II and Archbishop 
Trollo. 

1521 % Pope Adrian VI. 

— — Gustavus Vasa King of Sweden. 

Cortez completes the conquest of Mexico. 

1522 The first Voyage round the world performed by a ship of 

Magellan's squadron. 
_ Rhodes taken by the Turks. 

1523 Solyman the Magnificent takes Belgrade. 

— ^ Pope Clement VII. 

1524 Sweden and Denmark embrace the Protestant faith. 

1525 Battle of Pavia, in which Francis I is taken prisoner by 

Charles V. 

1526 Treaty of Madrid between Charles V and Francis I, when 

the latter is set at liberty. 

1527 Rome taken and plundered by Charles V. 

Pizarro and Dalmagro invade the Empire of T*pv». 

1528 Revolution of Genoa bv Andrea Dovia, 



40 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 

A.D. 

1528 Gustavus Ericson ci'owned King of Sweden. 

1529 Diet of Spires against the Huguenots, then first termed 

Protestants. 

Peace of Cam bray, August 5. 

The League of $malcald between the Protestants. 

Michael Servetus burnt for heresy at Geneva. 

The Treaty of Nuremberg, August 2. , 

The Court of Session in Scotland new-modeled by James V. 

1534 The Reformation in England. 
i % Pope Paul III. 

« Barbarossa seizes the Kingdom of Tunis. 

Jack of Leyden heads the Anabaptists at Munster. 

1535 The Society of the Jesuits instituted by Ignatius Loyola. 
■ — — Expedition of Charles V against Tunis. 

1538 Treaty of Nice between Charles V and Francis I. 

- — ._ The Bible in English appointed to be read in the Churches 

of England. 
1540 Dissolution of the Monastries in England by Henry VIII. 

1542 iVJLry Queen of Scotland. 

1544 The French defeats the troops of Charles V in the battle 

of Cerizoles. The Treaty of Crepi. 

1545 The Council of Trent begins, which continued eighteen 

years. 

1546 Cardinal Beaton, of St. Andrew's, assassinated. 

1547 Fiesco's Conspiracy at Genoa. 

— - — The battle of Mulberg, in which the Protestants are de- 
feated, and the Elector of Saxony taken prisoner. 
— Q&fetDard VI King of England. 
- — -— Henry II King of France, 

1548 The Interim granted by Charles V to the Protestants. 
1550 % Pope Julius III. 

1552 The treaty of Passau between Charles V and the Elector 

of Saxony, for the establishment of Lutheranism. 

1553 Sparp Queen of England. 

■ Lady Jane Grey beheaded. 

.1555 % Pope Marcellus II. 
^ Pope Paul IV. 

■ Many Bishops burnt in England by Marv. 

1656 IERDINAND /Emperor of Germany."' 
■ Philip II King of Spain. 

1557 Philip II defeats the French at St. Quintinv 

1558 <£It3abet!J Queen of England, 

1559 <fl Pope Pius IV. 

— Francis II King of France- 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 41 

A. D. 

1559 Treaty of Catteau-Cambresis. 

1560 Charles IX King ef France. 

— — Conspiracy of Amboise formed by the party of Conde 
against that of Guise. Beginning of the Civil Wars in 
France. 

=— — The Reformation completed in Scotland by John Knox. 

* The Papal Authority abolished by Parliament in Scotland. 

1561 Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Scotland from France. 

1562 Battle of Dreux. Victory of the Guises over Conde„ 
1564 MAXIMILIAN II 'Emperor of Germany. 

1566 fl Pope Pius VI. 

— — - Revolt of the Netherlands from Philip II. 
■ ■ w Selim II Emperor of the Turks. 

1567 The Duke of Alva sent by Philip to the Netherlands. 
■ King Henry Darnley murdered, Feb. 9. 

James VI King of Scotland. 

1568 Mary Queen of Scots flees to England for protection. 
• Philip II exterminates the Moors from Spain. 

Philip II puts to death his son Don Cai-los. 

1569 The Earl of Murray, Regent of Scotland^ assassinated by 

Hamilton. 

. The battles of Jarnac and Moncontour in France, in which 

the Protestants are defeated. 

1571 Naval victory at Lepanto, where the Turks are defeated by 

Don John of Austria. 

1572 ^T Pope Gregory XIII. 

The massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 

1573 Haerlem taken by the Spaniards. 

1574 Henry III King of France. 

_ Socinius propagates his opinions. 

„-. — Don Sebastian King of Portugal invades Africa. 
— — Memorable siege of Leyden, raised by the Prince of 
Orange, and the Admiral Boissot. 

1575 ^ Amurath III Emperor of the Turks. 

1576 Rodolphus II Emperor of Germany. 

_ The league in France formed against the Protestants. 

1578 The Spaniards under Don John of Austria defeated in the 

battle of Rimenant. 

1579 Commencement of the Republic of Holland by the union of 

Utrecht. Maastricht taken by the Spaniards. 

- — Battle of Alcagar ; the Portuguese under Don Sebastian. 

defeated by Muley Moluck. 

1580 Philip II takes possession of Portugal. 

. The world circumnavigated by Sir Francis Drake. 

1 582 The Raid of Ruthven in Scotland. James VI seized by 
the Earl of Gowric, 

f 



42 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

%D. 

1582 The New Style introduced into Italy by Pope Gregory 
XIII, the 5th of October being counted the 15th. 

1584 William I Prince of Orange murdered at Delft. 
- Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh. 

■ Embassy from four kings of Japan to Philip II. 

1585 ^| Pope Sixtus V. 

■ — Schah Abbas the Great King of Persia. 

1587 Mary Queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringay. 

1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada by the English. 

1589 Henry III of France murdered by Jacques Clement. 
- — - Henry IV {the Great) King of France. 

1590 The battle of Ivry, which ruins the League in France, 

- % Pope Urban VII. 

, ^T Pope Gregory X I V. 

1591 The University of Dublin erected. 
— — ^j Pope Innocent IX. 

1592 Presbyterian church- government established in Scotland. 

If Pope Clement VIII. 

1594 The Bank of England incorporated. 

— — ^ Mahomet III Emperor of the Turks. 

1596 Cadiz taken by the English. 

1598 Edict of Nantes, tolerating the Protestants in France. 

Peace of Vervins concluded between France and Spain. 

. Philip III King of Spain. 

■ ■ Tyrone's rebellion in Ireland. 

1600 

■ — — Gowrie's conspiracy in Scotland. 

The Earl of Essex beheaded. 

■ ■ The English East India Company established. 

1602 Decimal Arithmetic invented at Bruges. 

1603 9|.itttC$ I (VI of Scotland) King of Great Britain. 



Union oi the Crowns of England and Scotland 



w Achmet I Emperor of the Turks. 

1605 The Gunpowder-plot discovered. 

. 5| Pope Paul V. 

1608 Galileo discovers the Satellites of Jupiter. 
. Arminius propagates his religious opinions. 

1610 Henry IV of France murdered by Ravaillac. 
. — — Lewis XIII King- of France. 

- The Moors expelled from Spain by Philip III, 

Hudson's Bay discovered. 

161 1 Baronets first created in England by James I. 
1632 MATTHIAS Emperor of Germany. 

1614 Logarithms invented by Lord Napier. 

1616 Settlement of Virginia by sir Walter Raleigh. 

1617 w Musiapha Emperor of the Turks. 

1618 The Svnod of Dort in Holland. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 43 

A. D. 

1619 Discovery of the Circulation of the blood by Dr. Harvey. 
FERDINAND //Emperor of Germany. 

Vanini burnt at Thoulouse for Atheism. 

1620 The Battle of Prague, by which the Elector Palatine loses 

his Electorate. 
— — The English make a settlement at Madras. 

Navarre united to France. 

— — w Othman II Emperor of the Turks. 

1621 Philip IV King of Spain. 

Batavia, in the island of Java, built and settled by the Dutch. 

— — 51 Pope Gregory XV. 

1622 w Amurath IV Emperor of the Turks. 

1623 5| Pope Urban VIII. 

1625 €§&vlt$ I King of Great Britain. 

— — The Island of Barbadoes the first English settlement in the 
West Indies. 

1626 League of the Protestant Princes againt the Emperor. 
1632 Gustavus Adolphus killed in the battle of Lutzen. 

Christina Queen of Sweden. 
The French Academy instituted. 
FERDINAND ///Emperor of Germany. 
Bagdat taken by the Turks. 

The Solemn League and Covenant established in Scotland. 

1640 John Duke of Braganza recovers the Kingdom of Portugal. 

1641 The Irish Rebellion, and Massacre of the Protestants, Oc- 

tober 23. 

■ ^ Ibrahim Emperor of the Turks. 

< The Earl of Strafford beheaded. 

1642 Beginning of the Civil War in England. The battle of 

Edgehill, October 23. 

1 643 Lewis XIV King of France. 

Ann of Austria Regent of France. 

— — Archbishop Laud condemned by the Commons, and be- 
headed. 

1644 5j Pope Innocent X. 

■ Revolution in China by the Tartars. 

1645 Charles I defeated in the battle of Naseby. 

1648 The Peace of Westphalia. The Civil War of the Fronde 

at Paris 

1649 Charles I of England beheaded. 

Commonwealth of England begins. 

^ Mahomet IV Emperor of the Turks. 

1650 The Marquis of Montrose put to death. 

Battle of Dunbar. Covenanters defeated by CromwelL 

1651 The battle of Worcester won by Cromwell, 

1652 The first War between the English and Dutch. 



44, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

1653 The Dutch fleet defeated by Monk; 30 ships taken, and 

Van Tromp killed, July 30. 

1654 End of the Commonwealth of England. Oliver Crom- 

well Lord Protector. 
i — — The English, under Admiral Penn, take possession of 
Jamaica. 

1 654 Christina Queen of Sweden resigns the Crown to Charles X. 

1655 fl Pope Alexander VII. 

1658 LEOPOLD /Emperor of Germany. 

•? Richard Cromwell Lord Protector of England. 

1659 The Peace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. 

1660 Cgjarleg II King of Great Britain. Restoration of 

Monarchy. 
The Peace of Oliva between Sweden, Denmark, and Po- 
land. 
1662 The Royal Society instituted in England. 
. The French Academy of Inscriptions instituted? 

1664 The second Dutch War begins. 

1665 Charles II King of Spain. 
Great Plague in London. 

1666 Great Fire of London. 

• The Academy of Sciences instituted in France. 

- — - Sabatei Levi, in Turkey, pretends to be the Messiah. 

1667 The Peace of Breda, which confirms to the English Penn- 

sylvania, New York, and New Jersey. 
— — 51 Pope Clement IX. 

1668 The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1669 The island of Candia taken by the Turks, 

1670 5} Pope Clement X. 

1672 Lewis XIV conquers great part of Holland* 

* The De Witts put to death in Holland. 

1674 John Sohieski King of Poland. 

1676 5| Pope Innocent XL 

Carolina began to be settled by the English. 

1678 The Peace of Nimeguen, July 31. 

— — The Habeas Corpus act passed in England. 

1679 The Long Parliament of Charles II dissolved. 
1681 Peter the Great Czar of Muscovy, 

1683 Execution of Lord Russel, July 21. 

— — Execution of Algernon Sydney, December 7. 

- — — The Siege of Vienna by the Turks raised by John Sobieski, 

1685 gjatttfe II King of Great Britain. 

— — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Lewis XIV. 
— ~— Duke of Monmouth beheaded. 

1686 The Newtonian Philosophy first published in England, 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 45 

AD. 

1686 The League of Augsburg against France. 

1687 ^ Soliman III Emperor of the Turks. 

1688 Revolution in Britain. King James abdicates the throne, 

December 23. 

1689 »Mamand J]Batp King and Queen of Great Bri- 

tain. 
■*-- — Episcopacy abolished in Scotland by King William. 

1689 5J Pope Alexander VIII. 

1690 Battle of the Boyne, July 1. 

1691 fl Pope Innocent XII. 

^ Achmet II Emperor of the Turks. 

1692 Battle of La Hogue, May 19. 

The Massacre of Glencoe in Scotland, Jan. 31, O. S. 

- Battle of Steenkirk. King William defeated by Luxem. 

burg, July 24. 

. Hanover made the ninth Electorate of the Empire. 

1695 Namur taken by King William, June 25. 

^ Mustapha II Emperor of the Turks. 

1697 Peace of Ryswick concluded, September 11. 

. Charles XII King of Sweden. 

1699 Peace of Carlovitz concluded, January 26. 

1700 

— — Charles XII begins his first campaign, and takes Copen- 
hagen. 

, Philip V King of Spain. 

. fl Pope Clement XI. 

1701 Death of James II at St. Germain's 

1702 &m\t Queen of Great Britain. War against France 

and Spain. 

The English and Dutch destroy the French Fleet at Vigo. 

The French send colonies to the Missisippi. 

1703 Gibralter taken by Admiral Rooke, July 24. 

1704 Battle of Blenheim. The French defeated by Marlbo- 

rough and Prince Eugene, August 2. 
. Peter the Great founds St. Petersburgh. 

1705 The English take Barcelona. 

., JOSEPH I Emperor of Germany. 

1706 Battle of Ramilies. The French defeated by the Duke of 

Marlborough, May 12. 

. The Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, signed 

July 22. 

1707 The battle of Almanza. The French and Spaniards, un- 

der the Duke of Berwick, defeat the allies, April 14. 

1708 Battle of Oudenarde. The French defeated by Marlbo- 

rough and Eugene, June 30. 
=— — - Minorca taken by General Stanhope, September 18. 



id CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A. D. 

1709 Battle of Pultowa. Charles XII defeated by Czar Peter, 
June 30. 

— — Battle of Malplaquet. The French defeated by Marlbo- 
rough and Eugene, September 11. 

1711 CHARLES VI Emperor of Germany.- 

1713 The Peace of Utrecht signed March 30. 

1714 George I, Elector of Hanover, King of Great Britain. 

1715 Lewis XV King of France. 

- The Rebellion of Scotland. Battle of Sheriff-muir, No- 
vember 13. 

1716 Prince Eugene defeats the Turks at Peterwaradin. 

1718 Charles X II of Sweden killed at the siege of Frederickshalh 
1721 ^j Pope Innocent XIII. 

1724 ^ Pope Benedict XIII. 

1725 Death of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy. Catharine 

Empress. 
3 726 Great Earthquake at Palermo, August 21. 

1727 ^COtge II King of Great Britain. 

■ ■ Treaty of Copenhagen between Great Britain and Denmark. 

The Spaniards besiege Gibraltar, May 20. 

1728 Treaty between Great Britain and Holland, May 27. 
■ The Congress of Soissons, June 14. 

1729 Treaty of Seville between great Britain, France, and Spain, 

November 9. 

1730 5| Pope Clement XII. 

Christian VI King of Denmark. 

The Persians under Kouli-Khan defeat the Turks. 

~ — — w Mahomet V Emperor of the Turks. 
173,1 Treaty between Great Britain, the Emperor, and King of 
Spain, July 22. 

1733 The Jesuits expelled from Paraguay, January. 
. Frederick III King of Poland. 

1734 Commercial Treaty between Great Britain and Russia, 

December 2. 

1735 The French defeat the Imperialists in Italy. 

1736 Peace between Spain and Austria. 

__ — . Kouli-Khan (Nadir-Schah) Proclaimed King of Persia, 
September 29. 

1737 War declared between the Emperor and the Turks, July 2. 

1738 The Russians invade the Crimea. 

1739 Nadir-Schah conquers the greater part of the Mogul Em- 

pire. 

Treaty between Great Britain and Denmark. 

Peace between the Emperor and -the Turks, August 21, 

— — Peace between Russia and the Turks, November. 

1740 Frederick III (the Great) king of Prussia. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A.D. 

1740 ^f Pope Benedict XIV. 

War between Poland and Hungary. 

1741 War declared between Russia and Sweden. 

. The Prussians masters of Silesia, October 20. 

1742 Peace between Austria and Prussia, June 11. 

Defensive Alliance between Great Britain and Prussia, 

November 18. 
_„„_ CHARLES VII (of Bavaria) Emperor of Germany. , 

1743 Defensive Alliance between Great Britain and Russia, Feb- 

ruary. 
. War in Germany between the British, Hungarians, French 

and Austrians. 
1743 The French defeated by the Allies at Dettingen, June 6. 
1/44 War declared in Great Britian against France, March 31. 

The King of Prussia takes Prague. 

Commodore Anson completes his Voyage round the world, 

1745 FRANCIS I (of Loraine) Emperor of Germany. 

. Quadruple Alliance between Britain, Austria, Holland, and 

Poland, January 8. 
The allied army defeated by the French at Fontenoy, April 

30. 
- Louishurg and Cape Breton taken by the British troops, 

June 6. 

The Rebellion breaks out in Scotland, July. 

. Treaty of Dresden between Prussia, Poland, Austria, and 

Saxony, December" 25. 

1746 Ferdinand VI King of Spain. 

Frederick V King of Denmark. 

. Count Saxe takes Brussels and Antwerp. 

Victory of Culloden, which puts an end to the RebellioB 

in Scotland, April 16. 
■ Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock beheaded, August: IB. 

Count Saxe defeats the allies at Raucoux, Oct. 11. 

—, — Dreadful Earthquake at Lima in Peru, October 17. 

1747 Kouli-Khan murdered. Revolution in Persia. 

1748 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle between Great Britain, France, 

Spain, Austria, Sardinia, and Holland, October 7. 

1750 Joseph King of Portugal. 

Academy of Sciences founded at Stockholm. 

1751 Adolphus of Holstein King of Sweden. 

Peace between Spain and Portugal. 

1752 NewSt)de introduced in Britain, Sept. 3 reckoned 14, 

1753 The British Museum established in Montague house. 

1754 Great Eruption of Jitna. 

Great Earthquake at Constantinople and Cairo, Sept. 2. 

^ Othman III Emperor of the Turks. 

175-5 Lisbon destroyed by an Earthquake, November 1. 

1756 War declared between Great Britain and France, May 18- 



48 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

A.D. 

1757 The King of Prussia conquers Silesia. 

1758 % Pope Clement XIII. 

1 759 The French defeated by the allied army at Minden, Aug. 1 i 
■ Charles III King of Spain. 

The Jesuits expelled from Portugal, Sept. 3. 

— — General Wolfe takes Quebec in Canada, Sept. 17. 

1760 Montreal and Canada taken by the British, Sept. 8. 

? Charge III King of Great Britain, October 25. 

1762 Peter III Emperor of Russia. 

The Jesuits banished from France, August. 

Peace between Great Britain and France at Fontainebleau, 

Nov. 3. 

1763 Peace between Great Britain, France, and Spain, at Paris. 

Feb. 10. 
Catharine II Empress of Russia. 

1764 Stanislaus II King of Poland. 

— - — Byron's Discoveries in the South Seas. 

1765 JOSEPH II Emperor of Germany. 

1766 The Jesuits expelled from Bohemia and Denmark. 
Christian VII King of Denmark. 

1767 The Jesuits expelled from Spain, Genoa, and Venice. 
■— — Discoveries of Wallis and Carteret in the South Seas, 

1768 Royal Academy of Arts established at London. 

- — — The Jesuits expelled from Naples, Malta, and Parma- 
■ — — Bougainville's Discoveries in the South Seas. 

1769 ^[ Pope Clement XIV. 

- — - Cook's first Discoveries in the South Seas. 
■ Corsica taken by the French, June 13= 

1770 Earthquake at St. Domingo. 

1771 Gustavus III King of Sweden. 

1772 Revolution in Sweden, August 19. 

■ Poland dismembered by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 

1773 Cook's Second Voyage and discoveries. 

— — - The Society of the Jesuits suppressed by the Pope's bull, 
August 25. 

1774 Lexvis XVII King of France. 

^ Abdhul-Achmet Emperor of the Turks. 

American War commenced Nov. 15. 

1775 Battle of Bunker's Hill in North America, June 7. 

1776 Pope Pius VI. 

— — The Americans declare their independence, July 4. 

1777 Mary Queen of Portugal. 

Surrender of the British army under Burgoyne at Sarato- 
ga, in the state of New York, Oct. 17. 

1778 League between the French and Americans, Oct. 30. 

1779 Peace between the Imperialits and Prussians, May 13. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 49 

A.D. 

1779 Great Eruption of Vesuvius, August 8. 

■ Siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards, July. 

■ Captain Cook killed in the island of Owhyhee. 

1780 Great Riots in London on account of the Popish Bill s 

June 2. 
— — War declared between Great Britain and Holland, De- 
cember 20. 

1781 Surrender of the British Army under Cornwallis to the 

Americans and French at Yorktown in Virginia, Oc- 
tober 18. 

1782 Sir G, Rodney defeats the French fleet off Dominica, 

April 12. 

1783 Peace between Great Britain, France, and Spain, and the 

Independence of America declared, January 20. 

1 784 Peace between Great Britain and Holland, May 24. 

1 785 Treaty of Alliance between Austria, France, and Holland, 

November 9. 

1786 Frederick IV King of Prussia. 

1 788 Defensive Alliance between England and Holland, April 25. 

1789 wSelim III Grand Seignior, April. 

George Washington first President of the U. S. April 30. 

The Bastille at Paris taken and destroyed, and the Gover- 

nor massacred, July 14. 

1790 Monastic Establishments suppressed in France, Feb. 13. 

War commenced in India with Tippoo Sultan, May 1. 

LEOPOLD II Emperor of Germany. 

1792 FRANCIS II Emperor of Germany. 

Gustavus III King of Sweden assassinated by Anker- 

strom, March 29. 

Gustavus IV King of Sweden. Duke of Sudermania Re- 

gent in his minority. 

■ The Thuilleries attacked. The King and Queen of France 

take refuge in the National Assembly. The Swiss 
Guards massacred by the populace, August 10. 

— — The Royal Family of France imprisoned in the Temple, 
August 14. 

■ A dreadful Massacre of the state-prisoners at Paris, Sep- 
tember 2, 3. 

1792 The National Convention is constituted, the Kingdeposed, 

and France declared a Republic, Sept. 21. 

Savoy incorporated with the French Republic, Nov. 27. 

■ Lewis XVI is brought to trial, and answers each article of 

accusation, Dec. 14. 

1793 Lewis XVI condemned to death by a majority of five voi- 

ces, January 17, and beheaded Jan- 21. 
Russia declares war against France, January 31. 



50 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLED 

1794} The French Convention declares war against England and 
Holland, Feb. 1. 

«— — — Queen of France condemned to death, and beheaded, Oc- 
tober 15. 

— — — Robespierre, with his chief partizans, guillotined, July 28. 

1795 The Stadtholder takes refuge in England. Holland over- 

run by the French, January. 

. Lyons bombarded, laid in ruins, and all its loyal inhabi- 
tants massacred, May. 

■ Lewis XVII died in prison at Paris, June 8. 

The Cape of Good Hope taken by the British, Sept. 16. 

Belgium incorporated with the French Republic, Sept. 30. 

■ Stanislaus II resigns the Crown of Poland. The kingdom 

divided betv/een Russia, Austria, and Prussia, Nov. 25. 

1796 The French overrun and plunder Italy. 

Death of Catharine II. Paul Emperor of Russia, Nov. 17. 

1797 John Adams President of the United States, March 4. 

The Dutch Fleet beaten and captured by Adm. Duncan, 

Oct. 11. 

1798 The Papal government suppressed by the French/ The 

Pope quits Rome, February 26. 

— Ireland in open rebellion, May, June, &c. 

— — - Adm. Nelson destroys the French fleet in the battle of the 

Nile, August 1. 

- The Swiss finally defeated, and their Independence abol- 

ished, Sept. 19. 

1799 Seringapatarn taken by General Harris, and Tippoo Sultan 

killed, May 4. 

- Death of Pope Pius VI, September. 

- A revolution at Paris. Bonaparte declared first Consul, 

Dec. 25. 
1800 

■ Union of Britain and Ireland. 

— — Bonaparte defeats the Austrians in the battle of Marengo 

in Italy, June 14. 
— — - Armistice between the French and Austrians in Germany, 

July 15. 
The new Pope, Pius VII, restored to his government by 

the Emperor, July 25. 

Malta taken by the British, Sept. 5. 

1801 Thomas Jefferson President of the United States, March 4. 
— — Death of Paul. Alexander I Emperor of Russia, March 23. 
— Battle of Copenhagen, in which the Danes are defeated by 

the English fleet under Lord Nelson, April 3. 

1802 The Catholic Religion re-established in France, March. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 51 

A.D. 

1802 Treaty of peace between Britain and France. 

■ The King of Sardinia resigns his crown to his brother, July. 

— — ■ Bonaparte declared Chief Consul for life, July. 

— War between France, and Germany and Russia, in which 

the French are successful. 

1803 War between Britain and France. 

1 804 Emperor of Germany assumes the title of Emperor of Aus- 

tria, August 11. 
■ Bonaparte croxvned Emperor of France, December 2. 

1805 Bonaparte King of Italy, March. 

— — Lord Nelson defeats the combined fleets of France and 
Spain off Cape Trafalgar, takes or destrovs 19 ships of 
the line, and is killed in the battle, Oct. 21. 

War between England and Spain. 

1806 Lewis Bonaparte crowned King of Holland, June. 

- The British Parliament vote the abolition of the Slave 

Trade, June 10. 
•"• Francis II resigns the title of Emperor of Germany, 

Aug. 2. 
— — War between France and Prussia. 

■ Battle of Jena and total defeat of the Prussians, Oct. 14. 

1807" War between France and Russia, in which the French are 

successful. 
- — - ^> Revolution at Constantinople ; Sultan Selim deposed ; 

and Sultan Mustapha proclaimed, May. 

Great battle of Friedland, in which the Russians are de- 

feated by the French, June 14. 
Copenhagen taken by the British, and the Danish fleet 

carried to England. 
■ Treaty of Peace between France, and Russia and Prussia. 

1808 Abolition of the Slave Trade in the United States of 

America, January !■■•' 

■ Frederick VI King of Denmark, March. 

Joseph Bonaparte proclaimed King of Spain, June 16. 

— — ^ The Grand Seignior Mustapha deposed; and Mahomet 

VI Emperor of Turkey, July 28. 

War between Russia and Sweden. 

— — Bonaparte seizes Portugal, and the Royal Family flee to 
Brazil. 

Bonaparte seizes the Royal Family of Spain. War be- 

tween France and Spain. 

1809 James Madison President of the United States, March 4* 

Gustavus King of Sweden deposed, March. 

■ War between France and Austria. 

■ The Austrians are defeated by the French in the battles 

of Ratisbon and Eckmhul, April 20, 23. 



52 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 

1809 The Emperor of Austria compelled to accede to the hu? 

miliating terms of Napoleon. 

1810 Bonaparte divorces the Empress Josephine, and marries 

the Princess Maria Louisa of Austria. 
— — Holland united to the French empire, July 9. 
— — General Bernadotte chosen Crown Prince of Sweden, Aug. 

1811 The English conquer and occupy the Island of Java. 

1812 The United States declare war against England, June 18, 

and invade Canada. 

— The English under Lord Wellington defeat the French 

in a great battle at Salamanca, July. ,2^. 

— •— - Napoleon invades Russia with an immense army; and 
takes the city of Moscow, Sept. 

— . — - Great and sanguinary battle of Borodino in Russia, be- 
tween the French and Russians, in which both sides 
claim the victory, Sept. JR. (£ 

.- . ' .'" Battle of Malviaroslavetz, in which the French under Mu- 

rat, are totally defeated by the Russians, @sfc faff $' 
y Dreadful Earthquake in the province of Venezuela, which 
destroyed the city of Caraccas and many other towns, 
with a vast number of people, March 26. 

JVote. The best and the most extensive table of remarkable 
events is in Playfair's System of Chronology, folio : a book which 
is scarce, dear, and valuable. 



A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

OF 

ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



THE following Table is appropriated chiefly to the names 
of men of learning and genius, and affords an imperfect vijeib 
of the progress of science and literature in any particular age 
of the world. It likewise furnishes the young student with an 
ample catalogue of the names of persons distinguished by their 
talents or achievements, whose biography cannot fail to enter- 
tain and instruct him. JLccuracy is not to be expected in the dates 
of transactions and events which occurred in remote times; an 
approximation to truth is all that chronologers can pretend to. 
Hence the discrepances which are observed in the dates of the 
same occurrences, in different tables of chronology. 

The dates prefixed to ancient names signify generally, that 
the persons flourished or died about those times. When no date 
is prefixed to a name, the reader is to understand that tlie 
person flourished or died after the preceding- date, and before 
the succeeding ; but that the particular year of his life or death 
is unknown. 

Many names and dates have been compared with those in re- 
cent books of biography ; and the names of a great number of 
illustrious persons, which had been omitted, have been incor- 
porated with the original table. 

For an account of the Lives and Writings of those eminent 
persons, the reader is referred to Lempriere's Classical Diction- 
ary, 8vo; Lempriere's Universal Biography* Svo; General 
Biography, in several volumes, Uo, by Br. Aikin and others. 

* This book is not mentioned here for its merit, but because it has been re- 
printed in this country, and is therefore accessible to all readers. 



54 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS, 



B.C. 

1430 
1284 

1263 
1253 
1213 
1193 

1180 

1040 
907 
896 
873 

768 



736 
684 

684 



612 



590 
580 
578 
562 



558. 
556 
554 
552 
548 



547 



546 

544 
520 



Bacchus, obilt, (died) 

Orpheus, Linus, floruit, 
(flourished) 

Jason, Hercules, fl. 

Musoeus, fioet, fl. 

Nestor, fl. 

Menalaus, Ulysses, fl. 

Hector, Achilles, Jl. 

Dares Phrygius, hist. Jl. 

Sanchoniathon, Jl. 

Homer, Hesiod,7?. 

Elijah, firofihet, fl. 

Lycurgus, ob. 

Elisha, fir. ob. 

Isaiah, fir. ob. 

Joel,/zr. ob. 

Amos, fir. ob. 

Micah, fir. ob. 

Obadiah, fir. ob. 

Eumelus,/zo. ob. 

Archilochus, fio. Jl. 

Tyrtaeus, fio.Jl. 

Terpander, Jl, 

Alcman, Jl. 
Avion, musician, Jl. 

Pittachus of Mitylene, Jl. 

Bias of Pirene, Jl. 
Alcaeus, fio.Jl. 
Sappho, fio.Jl. 
Memnermus,/zo. Jl. 
Jeremiah, fir. ob. 
JKsop,Jabulist, ob. 
Cadmus of Miletu s, hist. Jl. 
Pherecydes of Scyros, jfr/zi- 
losofiher, fl. 

Solon, ob. 

Chilo of Lacedasmon, ob. 
Anacharsis of Scythia, ob. 
Ibycus, fio. Jl. 
Thales, fihil. ob, 
Theognis, fio. Jl. 
Stesichorus, fio. Jl. 
Anaximander, ob. 
Phocylides, fio. Jl. 
Susarion,/a6. fl. 
Orpheus, Jl. 
Bion, fio. fl. 
Thespis, com. fl. 
Anacreon, fio. fl. 



B.C. 

5 1 9 Zoroaster, fl. 

— Haggai, fir. fl. 
516 Onomacritus, fio. fl. 
510 Scylax, geografiher, fl. 

■ Diogenes, fihil. born. 

509 Heraclitus, fiMl. fl. 
508 Ocellus Lucanus, fl. 
504 Epicharmus, fio. fl. 
498 Anaximenes, fihil. ob. 
497 Pythagoras,! fihil. ob. 
490 Theano, fihil. fl. 

Simonides, fio. Jl. 

486 Corinna, fio. fl. 

479 Confucius, Chinese fihil. ob, 

464 Zeno the elder, fihil. fl. 

462 Esdras, /zr. fl. 

456 JLschylus, fio. ob. 

■ Democritus,/iAz7. fl. 

453 Aristarchus, critic, fl. 

Leucippus, fihil. fl. 

452 Cratinus, com. Jl. 
541 Bachylides, fio. fl. 
444 Herodotus, hist. fl. 
436 Empedocles, fihil. fl, 

Parmenides, fihil. fl. 

435 Pindar, ob. 

432 Phidias, sculfitor, ob. 

430 Eupolis, com.fl. 

Aristippus, fihil. fl. 

■ Antisthenes, fihil. fl. 

Agathon, fio. fl. 

Pericles, ob. 

428 Anaxagoras, /z/zz7. ob. 
415 Meton, mathematician, Jl. 
407 Euripides, ob. 
406 Sophocles, ob. 
404 Alcibiades, ob. 
401 Cebes, fl. 

Euclid, fihil. fl. 

397 Xeuxes, fiainter,fl. 

396 Socrates, ob. 

39 1 Thucydides, hist. ob. 

PhiloxemuSj/zo.^/?. 

389 Aristophanes, com. ob, 
387 Ctesias, hist. ob. 
378 Lysias, or. ob. 
571 Timoeus, fihil. fl. 
364 Antiphanes, com. fl. 
363 Pelopidas, ob. 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS, 



55 



B. C. 

363 
361 

359 
358 
348 
338 
336 

335 
334 

326 



324 
322 

320 

314 

300 



300 
293 
288 

284 
282 



272 
270 
268 



261 
259 



247 
244 



226 



Epaminondas, ob. 
Democritus of Abdera, ob. 
Hippocrates, phys. ob. 
Xenophon, hist. ob. 
Theopompus, hist. Ji. 
Plato, ob. 
Isocrates, or. ob. 
Parrhasius, paint, Ji. 
Aristides, paint. Ji. 
Timanthes, paint. Ji. 
Apelles, paint. Ji. 
Lisippus, sc. JI. 
Oschines, or. Ji. 
Onesicrates, hist. Ji. 
Ludemas, math. JI. 
Diogenes, phil. ob, 
Demosthenes, cr. ob. 
Aristotle, ob. 
Menander, com. Ji. 
Philemon, com. Ji. 
Xenocrates, phil. Ji. 
"Pyrrho, fihil. ob. 
Dephilus, corn. Ji. 
Posidippus, com. Ji. 
Arcesilas, math. Ji. 
Euclid, math. Ji. 
Menander, po. ob. 
Praxiteles, sc. ob. post. 
Theophrastus, JI. 
Demetrius Phalerius, ob. 
Theocritus, po. Ji. 
Megasthenes, hist, JI. 
Lycophron, po. Ji. 
Aratus, po. JI. 
Polemo, phil. ob. 
Epicurus, phil. ob. 
Berosus, hist. Ji. 
Zeno the younger, phil. ob. 
Cleanthes, Stoic phil. Ji. 
Manetho, hist . JI. 
Zoilus, crit. Ji. 
Conon, astron. Ji. 
Aratus of Sicyon, Ji. 
Jesus, son of Sirach, Ji. 
Callimachus,/zw. Ji. 
Livius Andronicus, po. Ji. 
Apollonius, math. Ji. 
Fabius Dictor, hist. Ji. 
Eratosthenes, geog. Ji. 



B.C. 

225 
212 
203 
194 
185 
184 
180 

169 

159 
158 

157 
140 

139 
131 

128 
124 
115 
103 
101 



84 
79 
73 



60 

51 
49 
46 

44 



40 
35 



Chrysippus, phil. JI. 
Archimedes, math. ob. 
Nsvius, po. ob. 
Apollonius Rhodius, /«.«£. 
Philopcemen, ob. 
Plautus,^o. ob. 
Bion, po. Ji. 
Moschus, po. JI. 
Ennius, po. ob. 
Csecilius, /zo. ob. 
Terence, po. ob. 
Aristarchus, gram. ob. 
Hipparchus,/*/*z7. ji, 
M. Portius Cato, or. JI, 
Critolaus,/2/?77. ob. 
Accius, trag. po. ob. 
Pacuvius, tr. po. ob. 
C. Piso, hist. ft. 
Carneades, phil. ob. 
Polybius, hist. ob. 
Apollodorus,gra»2. oh. 
Lucilius, po. ob. 
Sextus Turpilius, com. ob, 
L. Afranius, com. Ji. 
Alexander Polyhistor, Ji.. 
Cinna, ob. 

L. C. Sisenna, hist.Ji. 
Sertorius, ob. 
Terentius Varro, JI. 
Hortensius, or. JI. 
T. Pomponius Atticus,^?. 
C. Asinius Pollio, JI. 
C. Dec. Laberius, ?nimic,Ji, 
Lucretius, po. ob, 
Posidonius, ob. post. 
Trogus Pompeius, Ji. 
Alexander Polyhistor, ob. 
Julius Caesar, ob. 
Diodorus Siculus, hist. Ji. 
Marcus Tullius Cicero,. ob, 
Aulus Hirtius, hist. Ji. 
Catullus, po. ob. 
M. Junius Brutus, Ji. 
Sallustius, hist. ob. 
Publius Syrus, po. Ji. 
Manilius, po. Ji. 
Dioscorides, phys. ob. 
Cornelius Gallus, po. Ji. 
Messala Corvinus, hist. JI. 



56 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



B. C. 

26 Terentius Varro, ob. 

Propertius, fio. fi. 
25 Cornelius Nepos, hist. ob. 
19 Virgilius Maro, fio. ob. 

M. Vitruvius Pollio, archi- 
tect, fi. 
12 M. V. Agrippa, ob. 

Gratius Faliscus,/2o.7?. 

Horatius Flaccus, fio. ob. 

Mutius Scsevola, ictus, Jl. 
4 Verrius Flaccus, gram. Jl. 

N. Damascenus, Jl. 

Labeo, Capito, icti, Jl. 

Hyginus, math.Jl. 

Annseus Seneca, or.Jl. 

YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 

A, D. 

4 Phsedrus, fio. Jl. 

5 Dionysius Hallicarnassus, 

hist. Jl. 

Titus Livius, hist. ob. 
17 Ovidius,/zo. ob. 
17 Tibullus, fio. ob. 

Celsus Jihys. Jl. 
23 Valerius Maximus, Jl. 
25 Strabo, geog. Jl. 

Velleius Paterculus, ob. 
32 John the Baptist, ob. 
— Columella, agric. Jl. 

36 Fenestella, hist. Jl. 

37 Isiodorus, geog. fi. 
Philo Judaeus, Jl. 

45 Pomponias Mela, geog. fi. 
50 Aretaeus of Cappadocia, 

fihys. ob. 
56 Cornutus, fihil. Jl. 

Apollonius Tyanensis, Jl. 

Quintus Curtius, hist. Jl. 
60 Fortius Latro, fi. 
62 Persius, sat. Jl. 

64 Pedianus Asconius, fi. 

65 L. An. Seneca, fihil. ob. 
_- Annseus Lucanus, fio. ob. 

66 Petronius Arbiter, ob. 
Dioscorides, fihys. fi. 

74 Silius Itaiicus, fio. ob. 



A. D. 



84 
90 

93 
95 
96 

99 

103 
114 
115 
119 

128 
130 



131 

140 



148 



155 

163 
165 
167 
170 



180 
186 



196 



Clemens Romanus, Jl. 
C. Plinius Secundus, nat. 

hist. ob. 
Florus, hist. Jl. 
Valerius Flaccus, fio. Jl, 
Martialis,/2o. ob. 
Dio Chrysostom, ob. 
Josephus, hist. ob. 
Quinctillian, gram. ob. 
Statius, fio. ob. 
Sulpicia, fio. fi. 
Cornelius Tacitus, hist, ob, 
Julius Frontinus, ob. 
Plinius Junior, fi. 
Apicius Ccelus, fi. 
L. An. Florus, hist. fi. 
Plutarch, biog. ob. 
C. Suetonius, hist. Jl. 
Juvenal, fio. ob. 
Aulus Gellius, ob. 
jElius Adrianus, Jl. 
Arrian, hist, if fihil. Jl. 
Terentianus Maurus,//. 
Justin Martyr, Jl. 
JElian, hist. ob. 
L. Apuleius, //. 
Ptolemy, geog. Jl. 
Appian, hist. ob. 
M. Antoninus, fihil. JL 
Epictetus, fihil. ob. 
Athenaeus, JL 
Pausanias, hist. ob. 
Polycarp, bishofi, ob. 
Justin, hist. Jl. 
Demetrius Phalerius, ob. 
Diophantes, math. Jl. 
Lucian, ob. 
Agathareides,/;M. JL 
Julius Pollux, ob. 
Herodianus, fihil. JL 
Jamblichus, fio. JL 
Galen, fihys. ob. 
Sextus Empiricus, //. 
Maximus Tyrius, fihil Jl: 
Plotinus, fihil. JL 
Julius Solinus, JL 
Athenaeus, ob, 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



57 



A. D. 




A. D 


Tertullian, ob. 






202 Irenaeus, ob. 






Hegesippus, hist. fl. 






Philosti'atus, fl. 






206 Clemens Alexandrinus,./?. 




207 Minutius Felix, //. 






213 Oppian, fio. ob. 






220 Julius Africanus, hist. 


fl. 


371 


Diogones Laertius, ob. 




379 


iElianus, hist. fl. 






229 Dion Cassius, //. 


- 




Ulpianus, fl. 




379 


Julius Paulus, fl. 




380 


L. Pomponius, fl. 






Censorius, fl. 




389 


Modestinos, ictus, fl- 




392 


243 Ammonius, fihil. fl. 




397 


247 Herodian, hist.fi. 




399 


Origen, ob. 






258 Cyprian, ob. 






Anatolius, math. fl. 






270 Plotinus, fihil. ob. 




407 


Longinus, ob. 




416 


Achilles Tatius, //. 






276 Modestus, //. 




420 


280 Manes, fihil. ob. 






285 Arrobius, fl. 




426 


289 Gregory, Hermogenes 


,fl. 


430 


29 1 JElius Spartianus, hist. 


K 




Julius Capitolinus, hist 


•fi. 




Trebellius Pollio, hist. 


fi. 




jElius Lampridius, hist, 


■ fi. 


444 


Hierocles, fio. fl. 






303 Flavius Vopiscus, hist. 


fi. 


450 


Stephanus Byzantinus 


> 




hist. fl. 




463 


Alcipron, rhet. fl. 




466 


311 Lactantius, //. 




476 


312 Ossian,/zo. //. 






336 Arius, firesb. ob. 




482 


Stobseus, fihilol. fl. . 






Eusebius, hist. fl. 




491 


Donatus, fl. 







Eutropius, hist. fl. 

Libanius, sofihist, fl. 

Julian, fihil. f I. 

Hilary, bp. of Poictiers, //. 

Jamblichus, fihil. ob. 

Aurelius Victor, fl. 

Vegetius, hist. fl. 

St. Athanasius, ob. 

Eunapius, fl. 

R. Festus Avienus, fi. 

Pappus, math. fl. 

St. Bazil, ob. 

Ammianus Marcellinus,o£ 

Prudentius, fio. fl. 

Gregory Nazianzen, ob. 

Ausonius, fio. ob. 

St. Ambrose, ob. 

Hesychius, fl. 

Claudian, fio. fl. 

Heliodorus, sofih. fl. 

Longus, fl. 

St. Chrysostom, ob. 

Macrobius, fihilol. ob. 

Servius Honoratus, gr. fl. 

St. Jerome, ob. 

Sulpicius Severus, ob. 

Zozimus, hist. fl. 

St. Augustine, ob. 

Olympiodorus, hist.fl, 

Pelagius, hermit, ob. 

Ccelius Sedul. Scotus, //. 

St. Cyril, ob. 

Eutiches,yV. 

Sozomen, hist, ob. 

Agathias, hist, f I. 

Victorius of Aquitaine, fL 

Prosper, ob. 

Hieracles,y7. 

Q. Calaber, fio. fl. 

Sidonius Apollinaris, oh. 

Simplicius fihil. f I. 

St. Patrick, ob. 

Malchus, sofih. fl. 



58 ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 

From the year 400, or the beginning of the 5th century, to the 
middle of the 14th, there were few men of learning whose works are 
extant, and held in much repute. After the expiration of that long^ 
interval of ignorance and barbarism, learning began to revive, es- 
pecially since the invention of the art of printing about the -year 
1430. 

The most eminent men of the sixth century were Proclus, Pris- 
cian, Festus Pompeius, Nonius Marcellus, Alcimus Avitus, M. S» 
Boethius, Fulgentius, Procopius, Marcellinus, Jornandes, Cassio- 
dorus, Belisarius, Gildas, Evagrias, Gregory of Tours. 

The illustrious persons of the seventh century were Augustine, 
Mahomet, Secundus, Isidorus, George Pisides, Ildefonsus, Paulus 
JEgineta, Callinicus, Ada.manus Scotus. 

In the eighth century lived Fredegaire, Ge. Syncellus, Paul 
Diaconus, Alcuin, Bede, Johannes Damascenus. 

The eminent men of the ninth century were Charlemagne, Albu- 
mazar, Eginhart, Achmet, Photius, Neunius, Godescalcus, Ado 
Hincomarus, Scotus Erigena, Nicetas, Abbo, Alfred (king). 

The only men of any eminence in the tenth century were Azo- 
phi, Eudes de Cluni, Alfarabius, Luitprand, Abbo of Fleury, Ai- 
moin, Rhazes. 

The eminent men of the eleventh century were Guido Aretino, 
Avicenna, Guido of Amiens, Suidas, Const. Afer, William of Spires, 
William of Apulia, Berenger, Abp. Lanfranc, Gualfredo of Sien- 
na, Rodrigo the Cid. 

The eminent persons of the 1 2th century were Raymond Count of 
Thoulouse, Alhazen, Sigebert, Anna Comnena, Laurenzio of Ve- 
rona, Peter Abelard, Geoffry of Monmouth, Ben Edris of Nubia, 
Eustathius, Sylvester Geraldus, Eloisa, Peter Lombard, Aben Ezra, 
Henry of Huntingdon, Aelred, Ranulph de Glanville, Joseph of 
Exeter, Walter de Mapes, John of Salisbury, Giraldus Cambren- 
sis, William of Newburgh, Richard of Honeden, Peter of Blois, 
Gervase of Canterbury, Saxo Grammaticus, Averrhoes. 

The eminent men of the thirteenth century were Philip Gaultier 
de Chattillon, Raymond Count de Thoulouse, Gengis Khan, Ac- 
cursius, William of Brittany, Nicolas de Bray, Abulfaragi, Mat- 
thew Paris, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Brunetto Latini, 
Abram Ben Casa, Johannes Duns Scotus, Johannes Ferdun, Sir 
Wm. Wallace. 

The illustrious men of the fourteenth century were Guy Earl of 
Warwick, Raymond Lulli, Joinville, Dante Alighieri, Mortimer 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



59 



Earl of March, Abulfeda, Richard of Bury, John and Matthew Vil- 
lani, Philip Villani, Edward Baliol, Petrarch, Boccace, Edward the 
Black Prince, Ralph Higden, Matthew of Westminster, Bert, de 
Guesclin, Wickliffe, Henry Kryghton, Froissart, sir John Gomer, 
Jeoffry Chaucer, Owen Glendour, Nicholas Flamel. 

The illustrious persons of the fifteenth century were P. Ailly, 
Alain Chartier, Thomas Walsingham, Earl of Buchan (constable of 
France), Monstrelet, Joan d' Arc, Scanderbeg, Leonard Aretin, 
Humphrey duke of Gloucester, Poggio of Florence, John Faust, 
Rowley (Poet of Bristol), Cosmo de Medici, Laurentius Valla, 
JEneas Sylvius, Regiomontanus, Thomas a Kempis, Theodore 
Gaza, Philelphus, B. Platina, Picus Mirandola, Pomponius Lse- 
flis, Alexander ab Alexandro, Boiardo, Chalcondiles, Annio de 
Viterbo, Wm. Caxton, Lorenzo de Medici, Politian, John Huss, 
Jerome of Prague, Peter Martyr, Jov. Pontarus, P. Beroaldus, 
Caesar Borgia, Vasco de Gama, Sebastian Cabot. 



1520 



1531 

153 J 

1534 

1535 



A. D. 

Philip de Comines, hist. ob. 1540 

Gaston de Foix, ob. 

Rob. Fabian, hist. ob. 

Aldus Manutius, ob. 

Alfonso Albuquerque, ob. 1541 

Bap. Mantuanus, fio. ob. 1542 

Cardinal Ximenes, ob. 1543 

Card. Adrian, ob. 1544 

Raphael of Urbino, fia.ob. ■ 

H Boece, hist. ub. 1546 

Henry Stephen, sen. ob. 

Leon da Vinci, painter, ob. . 

Gawin Douglas, fio. ob. 1547 

Jex'an. ab Alexandro, ob. 

Ph. Melancthon, theol. ob'. - 

1 Liiictcre, fihys. ob. 

Joannes Pistor, theol. f I. 

Constable de Bourbon, ob. 1550 

J. Froben, 'printer, ob. ■ 

A. Durer, painter, ob. 1551 
Machiavel, hist. ob. - ■ 

B. Don. tus, crit. ob. 1553 

Sannazarius, fio. ob. - 

Zuingiius, ob. 

Lud. Ariosto, fio. ob. 1554 
CorregiO; painter, ob. 
Cornelius Agrippa, ob. 
Sir Thomas More, ob. 
Erasmus, ob. 



Budxus, ictus, ob. 
Guicciardini, hist. ob. 
Jo. Major, hist. ob. 
Jo. Bale, biog. ob. 
Paracelsus, fihys. ob. 
Alb. Pighius, math. ob. 
Copernicus, ast. ob. 
CI. Marot, fio. ob. 
Ol. Magnus, hist. ob. 
P. Jovius, hist. ob. 
Ed. Hall, hist. ob. 
Martin Luther, ob. 
Lud. Vives, ob. 
Card. Bembo, ob. 
Peutinger, geog. ob. 
Vatablus, gr. ob. 
Card, Sadoletus, ob. 
Trissino, fio. ob. 
Sleidan, hist. ob. 
J. Leland, ant. ob. 
Martin Bucer, theol. ob. 
Fr. Rabelais, ob. 
J. Dubravius, hist. ob. 
Mich. Servetus, theol. ob. 
Bp. Hugh Latimer, ob. 
Ferdinando Cortez, ob. 
Hans Holbein, pa. ob. 
Polydore Virgil, ob. 
Agricola, fihys. ob. 
Ignatius Loyola, ob. 



6G 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS, 



A.D 

Abp. Cranmer, ob. 1596 

Peter Aretin, ob. . 

Sir John Cheke, ob. 1598 

P. I. Valerianus, po. ob. 

Card. Pole, ob. 1600 

I. C. Scaliger, ob. 1601 
Charles V of Spain, ob. 

~ Aldrovandus, ob. 

1559 Robert Stephens, fir. ob . 1603 

1560 Michael cle 1' Hospital, fl. - 

1562 Laelius Socinus, theol. ob. 

1563 Sebastian Castalio, ob. 

< Roger Ascham, ob. • 

1564 John Calvin, thcol. ob. 1606 
Michael Angelo, paint, ob. 1607 
Con. Gesner, phil. ob. 1609 

Hier. Vida, po. ob. 

Anne de Montmerehcy, 1610 

Countable of France, ob. 1612 

1569 Bern. Tasso, ^o. ob. 1614 

1572 John Knox, ob. 1615 

■ Admiral Coligni, ob. 

- — — H. Cardan, math. ob. 1616 

Peter Ramus, ob. 1617 

1574 Paul Manutius, ob. 

■ Card Lorraine, ob. 

1576 Titian Vicelli, painter, ob. 1618 

P. And. Matheolus,/2A. ob. 

1579 Camoens, po. ob. 

- Sir Thomas Graham, ob. 

1580 Pailadio, arch, f I. 

1581 Jas. Crichton, ob. 1619 
— Osorius, ob. 1621 

1582 George Buchanan, ob. 

1585 Bodinus, ob. 1623 

— — Gar. Sigonius, ob. 

• . ■ Ronsard, po. ob. 1624 

1586 Sir Philip Sydney, ob. 1628 
1588 Paul Veronese, painter, ob. 

Sir Martin Frobisher, n&- 

-vigator,fl. 

J. Cujas, ictus, fl. 

Du Bartas, po. ob. 1630 

Parcirollus, ob. 

B. Brissonius, ictus, ob. 1631 

M„ Montagne, ob. J635 
Gerard Mercator, ob. 

Acidalius, crit. ob. ]638 
Torq. Tasso, po. ob. t 1640 



Aid. Manutius, jun. ob. 
Sir Francis Drake, nav. ob. 
Henry Stephens, jun. ob. 
E. Spencer, po ob. 
Richard Hooker, D. D. ob, 
Tycho Brahe, ast. ob 
Kepler, ast.fl. 
Masenius, po.fl. 
Queen Elizabeth, ob. 
John Stow, ant. fl. 
Galileo, phil. ob. 
Theodore Beza, ob. 
Thos. Cartwright, theol. ob. 
Justus Lipsius, ob. 
Card. Baronius, ob. 
Jos. Scaliger, ob. 
An. Caracci, painter, ob. 
Boccalini, ft. 
John Crellius, theol. f I. 
James Casuubon, ob. 
Et. Pasquier, ob. 
Lewis de Crillon, ob. 
W. Shakspeare, ob. 
Lord Napier, math. ob. 
De Thou, hist. ob. 
Aquillon, math. ob. 
Card. Perron, ob. 
Sir Walter Raleigh, ok. 
Mig. Cervantes, ob. 
Vossius, crit. f I. 
Meursius, crit. f I. 
James Arminius, thcol. ob. 
Card. Bellarmin, ob. 
Thos. Harriot, math, ob, 
Wm. Camden, hist. ob. 
Paul Sarpi, ob. 
Marianna, hist. ob. 
Malherbe, po. ob. 
Gui. Rheni, painter, fl. 
Rubens, painter, fl. 
Lord Bacon, ob. 
Fam. Strada, hist f I. 
Kepler, ob. 

Henry Briggs, math. ob. 
H. C. Davila, hist. ob. 
Lope de Vega, po. ob. 
Alex. Tassoni, po. ob. 
Ben Johnson po. ob. 
Ph. Massinger, po. ob. 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



61 



A.D. 

1641 



1642 

1643 
1644 



1650 



1652 
1653 
1654 



1655 



1660 
1661 



1667 



1668 



Maximilian Duke of Sul- 
ly, ob. 

A. Vandyke, fia. ob. 
Reni Guido, fia. ob. 
Jer. Horrox, ast. ob. 
H. Spelman, ob. 
Galileo, fihil. ob. 
Card. Richlieu, ob. 
John Hampden, ob. 
Bentivoglio, hist. ob. 
Wm. Chilling-worth, ob. 
Abp. Wm. Laud, ob. 
Van Helmont, fihys. ob. 
Hugh Grotius, ob. 
Quevedo, fio. ob. 
Voiture, ob. 

Wm. Drummond, fio. and 
hist. ob. 
F. Strada, ob. 
Jo. Ger. Vossius, ob. 
Des Cartes, fihil. ob. 
Inigo Jones, arch. ob. 
Petavius, hist. ob. 
Salmasius, ob. 
Balzac, ob. 
John Selden, ant. 
Rev. Thomas Gataker, ob. 
Gassendi, fihil. ob. 
Abp. Usher, ob. 
Dan. Heinsius, fio. ob. 
Nic. Poussin, fiainter, ob. 
Bp. Joseph Hall, theol. ob. 
Wm. Harvey, fihys. ob. 
Admiral Blake, ob. 
Casp. Barthius, ob. 
Oliver Cromwell, ob. 
Scarron, fio. ob. 
Spinosa, fihil. f I. 
Pascal, ob. 

H. Hammond, theol. ob. 
Card. Mazarin, ob. 
Rev. John Taylor, ob. 
Dr. Thos. Fuller, theol. ob. 
Dr. Brian Walton, theol. ob. 
Ab. Cowley, fio. ob. 
Bp. Jer. Taylor, ob. 
Sam. Bochart, ob. 
Sir John Denham,/.'o. ob. 



A.D. 

1668 

1671 



1677 
1678 
1679 



1680 



1681 




1684 



1686 



1687 



1688 



William Prynne, ictus, ob. 
Rembrandt, fiainter, ob. 
Caspar de Crayer, fia. ob. 
Mot le Vayer, ob. 
Gronovius, ant. ob. 
Moliere, fio. ob. 
Chancellor Segnier, ob. 
Bp. John Wilkins, ob. 
John Milton, ob. 
Edw. Earl of Clarendon, ok- 
Turenne, ob. 
James Gregory, math, ob, 
Admiral De Ruyter, ob. 
Sir Matthew Hales, ob. 
Dr Isaac Barrow, ob. 
Spinosa, ob. 
Thomas Hobbes, ob. 
Duke de Rochefoucault 5 ob. 
Card, de Retz, ob. 
Mezeray, ob 

Wentzel Hollar, engr..ob, 
Matthew Poole, theol. ob. 
T. Bartolin, ob. 
Sam. Butler, ob. 
Th. Otway, fio. ob. 
Madame Bourignon, ob. 
Athan. Kircher, ob. 
Swammerdam, nat. ob. 
John Laur. Bernini, fia.ob. 
John Kersey, Math.Jl. 
Montecuculi, ob. 
Sir J Marsham, chron. ob, 
Claude Lorraine, fia. ob. 
John Collins, math. ob. 
Sir Th. Bi'own, fihys. ob. 
J. B. Colbert, ob. 
John Picard, ast. ob. 
Mariotte, math. ob. 
Pet. Corneille, fio. ob. 
Dr. John Pell, math, ob, 
Dr. Edm. Castell,/Mz7o/. b. 
Maimbourgh, hist. ob. 
Otho Gueric, fihil. ob. 
Lewis prince of Conde, ob. 
Edmund Waller, fio. ob. 
Hevelius, ast. ob. 
Sir Wm. Petty, fihil. ob. 
Du Cange, ob. 



62 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



A.D. 

1688 



1689 
1690 

1691 



1699 
1700 
1701 
1702 
1703 



1704 



1711 
1712 

1713 

1714 

1716 



Ralph Cudworth, ob. 
Duke of Ormond, ob. 
Claude Perault, fihil. ob. 
Ths. Sydenham, fihys. ob. 
C. le Brun, painter, ob. 
Robert Barclay, theol. ob. 
Robert Boyle, fihil. ob. 
Sir Geo. Mackenzie, ob. 
Elias Ashmole, ant. ob. 
Dr.Edw.Pococke, theol. ob. 
Abp. Jn.Tillotson, theol. ob. 
Nic Heinsius, ob. 
S. Puffendorf, ob. 
Huygens, fihil. ob. 
La Fontaine, ob. 
Dr Busby, ob. 
Anthony Wood, ant. ab. 
John Racine, fio. ob. 
Wm. Molyneux, math. ob. 
Bp. Stillingfleet, ob. 
Sir Wm. Temple, ob. 
John Dryden, fio. ob. 
Robert Hooke, fihil. ob. 
J. G- Grsevius, fihilol. ob. 
George Psalmanazar, ob. 
Dr. John Wallis, math. ob. 
John Locke, fihil. ob. 
De 1' Hospital, math. ob. 
John Ray, nat. ob. 
James Bernouilli, math. ob. 
Bp. Bossuet, ob. 
John Evelyn, ob. 
Peter Bayle, ob. 
Vauban, engin. ob. 
Tournefort, nat. ob. 
David Gregory, math. ob. 
Dr. Thomas Smith, ob. 
Esprit Flechier, ob. 
N. Boileau, ob. 
Joha.Dom. Cassini, ast. ob. 
John Flamstead, ast. ob. 
Ashley Cooper, Earl of 

Shaftesbury, ob. 
Robert Nelson, ob. 
John Radcliffe, fihys. ob. 
Roger Cotes, math. ob. 
Dr. Robert South, theol. ob. 



AD. 

1717 



1718 

1719 
1721 

1722 



1723 



1724 



1725 



1730 

1731 
1732 



1733 
1735 



1736 
1737 
1738 



1741 



Abp. Fenelon, ob. 
Bp. Burnet, ob. 
Malbranche, fihil. ob. 
Leibnitz, fihil. ob. 
Wm. Penn, ob. 
Charles XII of Sweden, ob. 
Joseph Addison, ob 
Matthew Prior, fio. ob. 
Dr. John Keil, math. ob. 
Andrew Dacier, fihilol. ob: 
C. Fleury, hist. ob. 
John Churchill, Duke of 

Marlborough, ob. 
Sir Christ. Wren, ob. 
H. Prideaux, theol. ob. 
Sir Godfrey Kneller,/za, ob. 
Wm. Wollaston, ob. 
Thomas Guy, ob. 
Czar Peter, ob. 
Rapin, hist. ob. 
Jeremy Collier, ob. 
Sir Isaac Newton, fihil. ob. 
Dr. Sam. Clarke, ob. 
Wm. Congreve, dram. ob. 
John Harris, math. ob. 
James Saurin, theol. ob. 
Daniel de Foe, ob. 
Bp. Atterbury, ob. 
John Gay, fio. ob. 
Dr. Edm Calamy, theol. ob. 
Corelli, mus. ob. 
Dr. Wm. Derham, fihil. ob. 
Bp. Tanner, ant. ob. 
Vertot, hist. ob. 
John le Clerc, ob. 
Prince Eugene, ob. 
Joseph Saurin, math. ob. 
John Hutchinson, theol. ob. 
Her. Boerhaave, fihys. ob. 
I. de Beausobre, theol. ob. 

r. Saunderson, math. ob. 
Ephr. Chambers, fihil. ob. 
P.Muschernbroeck,/z/«V.^?. 
John P. Baretier, fihil. ob. 
Peter Burman, fihilol. ob. 
B. Montfaucon, ant. ob. 
Charles Rollin, hist. ob. 
Dr. Brook Taylor, math, ob. 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



6-3 



R. Saunderson, ant. ob. 
Card. Polignac, ob. 

1742 Dr. Edm. Halley, math. ob. 
• Dr. R. Bentley, fihilol. ob. 

- ■ W. J. Gravesande, phil. ob. 

• John B. Massillon, the ol. ob. 

1743 Robert de Lorraine, sc. ob. 
• Card, de Fleury, ob. 

' J. G. Keysler, ant. ob. 

. Hyacinth Rigaud, pa. ob. 

1744 Alex. Pope, fio.ob. 
- Roger Gale, ant. ob.. 

Dr. Jonathan Swift, ob. 
Collin Maclaurin, math. ob. 
Barbeyrac, phil. ob. 
Dr. J. J. Dillenius, bot. ob. 

Mich. Maittaire, fihilol. ob. 

■ Abp. Potter, ob. 

— — E. Holdsworth, critic, ob. 
1748 James Thomson, po. ob. 
■ Dr. Isaac Watts, ob. 

Dr. F. ttutcheson, fihil. ob. 

John Bernouilli, math. ob. 

. Rev. Christ. Pitt,/2o. ob. 

1750 Wm. Jones, math. ob. 

Dr. ConyersMiddIeton,o6. 

— Maurice Count deSaxe,o6. 

1751 Henry St. John, Lord Bo- 

lingbroke, ob. 

Dr. P. Doddridge, theol. ob. 

• Ben. Robins, math. ob. 

1752 Wm. Cheselden, anat. ob. 
' Card. Alberoni, ob. 

. George Graham, art. and 

phil. ob. 

Bp. Berkeley, ob. 
Sir Hans Sloane, nat. ob. 
Richard Mead, phys. ob. 
Henry Fielding, ob. 
Thomas Carte, hist. ob. 
Geo. Demoivre, math. ob. 
Charles de Secondat, Ba- 
ron Montesquieu, ob. 

• John Geo. Gmelin, bot ob. 

■ Bp. Tho. Wilson, theol. ob. 

1756 Gilbert West, ob. 

■ Wm. Collins, po. ob. 

John J. Cassini, ast. ob. 



A. D. 

1757 



1758 



1759 



1762 



1766 

1767 
1768 

1769 
1770 



Dominic Calmet, theol. ob. 
David Hartley, phys. ob. 
Wm. Maitland, hist. ob. 
Bernard le Boviev de Fon- 

tenelle, ob. 
Rev. J. Harvey, ob. 
L. Heister, anat. ob. 
Anthony de Jussieu, bot. ob. 
Peter Bouguer, math. ob. 
G. Francis Handel, mus. ob. 
Maupertuis, math. ob. 
Julien le Roy, artist, ob. 
Nic. Lewis Count Zinzen- 

dorf, ob. 
Bp. Thomas Sherlock, ob. 
Bishop Hoadley, ob. 
Thomas Simpson, math, ob 
Dr. Thomas Leland, ob. 
Belidor, engin. ob. 
Stephen Hales, phil. ob. 
Dr. James Bradley, ast. ob. 
Geo. Lord Anson, nav. oh. 
Caille, math. ob. 
Geminiani, mus. ob. 
Crebillon,/zo. ob. 
N. Hooke, hist. ob. 
Wm. Smellie,/2/2t/s, ob. 
James Anderson, hist. ob. 
Wm. Hogarth, pa. ob. 
Dr. Edward Young, po. ob. 
Clairaut, math. ob. 
Dr. Stukely, ant. ob. 
Rd. Pococke, L. L. D. ob. 
Dr. Rob. Simson, math. ob. 
Dr. T. Birch, hist. ob. 
John Taylor, L. L. D.ob. 
Dr. Sam, Chandler, ob. 
James B. Beccaria, nat. ob. 
Abp. Seeker, theol. ob. 
James Short, opt. ob. 
Abbe John Winkelman, ob. 
Dr. John Martyn, ob. 
Ch. S. L. Camus, math. ob. 
R. Smith, math. ob. 
J. Chappe d'Auteroche,o>5. 
AbbeNollet,/2//z7. ob. 
Geo. Whitefield, theol. oh. 
Wm. Guthrie, hist. ob. 
Tho. Chatterton, po, ob„ 



64- 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS. 



A. a 

1770 Dr. Roger Long, ast. ob. 
*■ Dr. John Jortin, ob. 

- Bi'ucker, ob. 

Dr. Mark Akenside,/2&. ob. 

— — Dr. Tobias Smollet, ob. 

1771 Thomas Gray, fio. ob. 

1772 Swedenborg, theol. ob. 
- John Canton, fihil. ob. 

1773 Philip Stanhope, Earl of 

Chesterfield, ob. 
— — George Lord Lyttleton, ob. 

1774 M. de la Condamine, ob. 
• Oliver Goldsmith, ob. 

— — Bp. Zach. Pearce, theol. ob. 
— — Henry Baker, fiat. ob. 

1 775 Dr. John Hawkesworth, ob. 
' Israel Lyons, math. ob. 

- Dr. John Campbell, hist. ob. 

1776 David Hume, hist. ob. 

- John Harrison, artist, ob. 

• James Ferguson, fihil. ob. 

1777 Sam. Foote, com. ob. 

' Albert Haller, fihys. ob. 

Bernard de Jussieu, bot. ob. 

1778 Voltaire, ob. 

• — — Charles Linnaeus, nat. ob. 
• J. J. Roussea.u, ob. 

1779 David Garrick, act or, ob. 

- Wm. Pitt, Earl of Chat- 
ham, ob. 

■ Bp. Warburton, ob. 

— — Dr. John Armstrong, ob. 
• James Cooke, nav. ob. 

1780 Sir Wm. Blackstone, ob. 

JohnFothergill,/2/«/s. ob. 

• James Harris, fihilol. ob. 

. Condillac, fihil. ob. 

■ Sir James Stewart, ob. 
Sir Joseph Banks, fihil. fi. 

1782 Bp. Newton, ob. 

-, D' Anville, geog. ob. 

. Metastasio, fio. ob. 

Daniel Bernoulli, math, ob 

■. — H. Home, Lord Kames, ob. 

Sir John Pringle, /j/«/s. ob. 

; Wm. Hunter, fihys. ob. 

. Wm. Emerson, math. ob. 

1783 D' Alembert, fihil. ob. 
—— Leonard Euler, math. ob. 



A. D. 

1783 Dr. B.Kennicott,/2/zz7o/.o£. 

1784 Dr. Sam. Johnson, ob. 
— — T. Bergman, fihil. ob. 
■ P. J. Macquer, chem. ob. 

1785 Richard Glover, fio. ob. 

Dr. Mat. Stewart, math. ob. 

1786 Jonas Hanway, o/3. 

Frederic II of Prussia, ob. 

Jesse Ramsden, ofit.Jl. 

1787 Bp. Lowth, ob. 

Bp. Edmund Law, ob. 

James Stewart, F. JR. S. oh. 

■ T. Gainsborough,/2am£. ob. 

Th. Sheridan, fihilol. ob. 

Rev. H. Farmer, theol. ob. 

1788 George Louis le Clerc, 

Count de Buffon, nat. ob, 
■ Heyne, fihilol. fi. 

Rev. Sam. Vince, math, fi, 

Richard B. Sheridan, fi. 

— — Francis Maseres, math. fi. 

Percival Pott, surg. ob. 

Alex. Munroe, fihys. fi. 

■ John Whitehurst,/zM. ob- 

1789 W. J. Mickle, fio. ob. 

• Peter Camper, nat. ob. 

Marquis de Mirabeau, ob. 

— — Vernet, paint, ob. 

• Fourcroy, chem. fi. 

Chaptal, chem. fi. 

• — — Bertholet, fihil. fi. 
LaCepede, nat. fi. 

1790 Wm. Cullen, fihys. ob. 
■ Bossut, math. fi. 

' Dr. Adam Smith, fihil. ob. 

• De la Metherie, math. fi. 

Dr. Ben. Franklin, fihil. ob. 

Ben. Bell, surg. fi. 

John Howard, ob. 

John Landen, math. ob. 

— — Rev. Th. Warton, ob. 

Dr. Adam Ferguson, fi- 

General Roy, engin. ob. 

De laLande,as£. fi. 

Dr. Wm. Henry, hist. ob. 

Ben. Thomson, Count of 

Rumford,^M. fi. 
— — - Dr. N. Maskelyne, ast. fi, 
-*-— > Tiberius Cavallo, /?/«'/. fi> 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS, 



A.D. 

1790 Rev. George Walker, Jl. 
Josiah Wedgewood,jfl. 

, - Wm. Curtis, bot. Jl. 

. Rev. Dr. Knox,,/?. 

. — Fuzeli, painter, jl. 

. Prof. James Rush, phys.fi. 

. Dr. Chas. Hutton, math.jl. 

, , John Bonnycastle, math jl. 

1791 Dr. Richard Price, ob. 

. Dr. Th. Blacklock, po. ob. 

, , Rev. John Wesley, theol. ob. 

, Francis Grose, ant. ob. 

. Profes. Michaelis, theol. ob. 

1792 Sir Joshua Reynolds,/^, ob. 
David Dalrymple, (Lord 

Hales) hist. ob. 

Bp. Home, theol. ob. 

— George Forster, ob. 

■ Robert Adam, arch, ob* 

, . Sir Richard Arkwright, oh. 

Sir Rob. Strange, engr. ob. 

_ . John Smeaton, engineer, oh. 

1793 Dr. W. Robertson, hist. oh. 
. Wm. Murray, Earl of 

Mansfield, oh. 

. Thomas Pennant, phil. oh, 

. Thomas Mudge, opt. oh. 

- Dr. John Hunter, oh. 

1794 Edward Gibbon, hist. oh. 
H. Hoogeveen, philol. oh. 

■ Dr. Witherspoon, theol. oh. 

, George Colman, dram. ob. 

Card, de Bernis, ob 

. A. L. Lavoisier, chem. oh. 

. Griesbach, philol. Jl. 

1795 Sir Wm. Jones, oh. 

■ Jean J. Barthelemi, oh. 

Rev. Dr. Alex. Gerard, oh. 

Rev. Dr. Kippis, biog. oh. 

J. G. Zimmerman,/z/zz/s. oh. 

• Prony, math. Jl. 

1796 Rev. Dr. G. Campbell, oh. 

• Prof. Porson, philol, Jl. 

Rev Dr. Parr, /. 

. Richard Kirwan, /?/zz7. Jl. 

Rev. Dr. Rees, Jl. 

. Sir W. Chambers, arch. oh. 

. Delambre, math. Jl. 

■■ Scheele, chem.fi- 



1797 



1798 



1799 



Herschel, ast. Jl. 
Alex. Guy Pingre, ast. oh, 
Henry Cavendish, chem.Jl. 
Dav. Rittenhouse, phil. ob. 
Robert Burns, po. oh. 
Dr. Thomas Reid, phil. oh. 
Rt. Hon. Edm. Burke, oh. 
J. A. T.Tissot, /z/zi/s. oh. 
Rev. Wm. Mason, po. ob. 
Dr. James Hutton, phil. oh. 
H Walpole, Earl of Or- 
ford, oh, 

Joseph Wright, pa. oh. 

P. S^ Pallas, nat.Jl. 

Dr. Richard Farmer, oh. 

Dr. Wm. Enfield, oh. 

Catherine II of Russia, oh. 

Duke de Nivernois, oh. 

Dr. Edw. Waring, math. oh. 

John Reinold Forster, ob. 

Lewis Galvani, fihys. oh. 
■ C. Borda, math. oh. 

Wm. Wales, math. oh. 

Spallanzani, nat. oh. 

■ Rev. Jos. Tucker, phil. oh. 

— — George Washington, Pres*. 

U. S. oh. 

Wm. Melmoth, oh. 

H. B. de Saussure, phil. oh. 

Dr. Joseph Black, chem. ob. 

Bp. Wm. Newcome, oh. 

1800 Bryan Edwards, hist. oh. 

• Daines Barrington,mz?. oh. 

, W. Cruikshank, anat. oh. 

Arthur Young, agric. fi. 

C.Girtanner,/zM. oh. 

■ Wm. Cowper, /zo. oh. 

■ Dr. John Aikin, Jl. 

. . J. S. Montucla, math. oh. 

; Rev. Joseph Warton, o/>, 

, Dr. David Lysons, oh. 

, J. Baptiste Munos, oh. 

. Dr. Hugh Blair, oh. 

,»■„ .- Werner, miner. Jl. 

M. de Guignes, oh. 

„ Rev. J. Macnight, theol. oh 

John G.C.Lavater, oh. 

Prof. John Millar, ob. 

Sir Ben. West, fub fi- 



1801 



ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS, 



A. D. 

1801 Gilb. Wakefield, flhilol. ob. 

* Dr. John M. Good, fi. 

Richard Cumberland, fi. 

' Dr. J. E. Smith, nat. fi, 

= r? Dugald Stewart, phil. fi, 

■ John Playfair, fihil. fi. 

» Dr. James Playfair, fi, 

180? Welbore Ellis, ob. 

• M. de Calonne, ob. 

f Dr. Erasmus Darwin, ob. 

- — - Dr. Alex. Geddes, ob. 

, Dr. Sam. Arnold, mus. ob. 

. Dr. Geo. Gregory, fihil.fi. 

1803 Dr. James Beattie, ob. 

~ Sir Wm. Hamilton, fihil.ob, 

■ Dr. John Erskine, theol. ob. 

< John F. de la Harpe, ob. 

= — - Dr. Joseph Priestley, ob. 
6 — — Francis Egerton, Duke of 

Bridgwater, ob. 
— — Dr. Wm. Smith, theol. ob, 
• David J. le Roy, arch. ob. 

1804 Alex. Hamilton, ictus, ob. 
s Jacob Bryant, ob. 

s — — Thomas Percival, phys. ob. 

1805 Prof. J. Robison, fihil. b> 
= - Arthur Murphy, ob. 

- — - Dr.Wm. Paley, ob. 

=- — Admiral H. Nelson, ob. 

Prof. J. F. Gmelin, nat. ob. 

. M. Julien, sculp, ob. 

s = Dr. And. Mackay, math.fi. 

- Dr. George Shaw, nat. fi. 

1806 Prof. A. Dalzel, fihilol. ob. 

! Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, ob, 

— — sp Bp. Sam. Horsley, ob, 

, — — Rt. Hon. Wm. Pitt, ob. 
— — De la Croix, math, fi. 
= David, pa.fi. 

- B m Wm. Belsham, hist.fi. 



AD. 

1806 Rt. Hon. C. J. Fox, ob. 

Edw. Lord Thurlow, ic. ob, 

1807 N. des Enfans, ob. 

— — George Atwood, math. ob. 
. John Walker, fihilol. ob. 

1808 Bp. Richard Hurd, ob. 

Dr. J. Anderson, fihil. ob. 

John Stewart, fia. fi. 

1809 J. Von Muller, hist. ob. 

, Bp. B. Porteus, theol. ob. 

• Dr. Alex. Adam, fihilol. ob. 

1810 Rev. Dr. Sam. S.Smith,/. 
■ De la Place, math. fi. 

— — De la Grange, math. fl. 
— — - Legendre, math. fl. 
. Dr. T. Cogan, fihil. fl. 

■ < Dr. Th. Thomson, chem.fl. 
J. Murray, chem. fi. 

■n - Dr. David Ramsey, hist.fi. 
1812 Sir Humph. Davy, fihil. fi. 
■ — — Dr. Thos. Young, fihil. fi. 

John Bell, surg. fi. 

s Charles Bell, surg.fl. 

— — Astley Cooper, surg.fi. 

John H. Tooke, fihilol. ob. 

C. Wildenow, nat. ob. 

Humboldt, nat. and ast.fi. 

• Anth.Laur. Jussieu, bot.fi, 

■ ■ Constant Dumeril, nat. fi. 

■ Soemmering, nat.fi. 

■— — Olbers, ast.fi. 

■ - e Dr. Wollastonj/z/tz'/../^ 
— Thenard, chem.fl. 

Vauquelin, chem.fl. 

Poisson, math.fi. 

. Canova, sculfi.fi. 

Andrew Thouin, nat. fi. 

Piazzi, ast. fi. 

Geo. Cuvier, anat. fi. 

i — — Eric Berzelius^ chem.fi. 



FINIS, 



CORRECTIONS AND AMEXDMENTS. 



Page. line: 



39 


2 bot. 


11? 


10 bot. 


119 




153 


18 


155 


9 bot. 


100 


1(5 


192 


19 


200 


2 bot. 


202 


2 


206 


5 


233. 


4 


241 


9 bot. 


2(53 


13 


2S0 


4 bot. 


290 


13 


374 


IS 


380 


5 



For 153 read 154. 
For 2S5 read 233. 

After line 19 add, A Chronological 
Table of Remarkable Events. . 1 

A Chronological Table of Illustrious 
Persons s ? 

Cancel. A Table of Chronology. A 
Table »/' Biography, ire. 

Cancel See Appendix: 

Cancel the last comma. 

For of hundred read hundred oj. 

After reign add and. 

After Section XLII. and 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. 

For Cooper read Ashley. 

Cancel the last comma. 

For supportand read support and. 

For attaining read attained. 

For ov r read over. 

Cancel of. 

Cancel the first comma. 

Cancel the last comma.^ 

For segnior read seignior, 

For Abert read Albert. 

Cancel the second comma: 

Cancel the second comma. 

For disenssiws read dissentions. 

In some copies for co?om read cfl- 
('o.vsn'. 

After watf add of. 



25 


11 


26 


13 


35 


6 


35 


6 


41 


2S 


41 


30 


48 


1 


52 


11 


52 


16 


'52 


13 



For disadvantages read disadvan- 
tage. 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
After line 17 add 

The sultans of the Ottoman empire 
are designated by a crescent ^s) 
prefixed lo their names. 
1328 **z) L'rchdnes emperor of the' 
Turks. 
bot. For Aeropagus read Areopagus. 
bot. For Tarqvinis read Tarquinius. 
bot. For Hermodioas read Hermodius. 
bot. For Phebans read Thebans: 

For Saxulares read Seculares. 
bot. For Grt.'a read Ge?o. 
bot. For Alarac read Alaric. 

For Pendragor read Pendragon. 
bot. For .Mary read marry. 
For Michcel read Michael: 
For f7j-c/m read Urchan. 

For ~ read ^ • Tu * s error conti. 

nues to the end. 
For Harlem read Haerlem. 
For Socinius read Socinus. 
bot. For Imperia'dts read Imperialists. 
After July add 22. 
For 7 read 6. 
For Oc/. read Not;. 8. 



9 

o 





m Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
« Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: ^ 2Q0Z 

* ^^. V^sSGj* jJ PreservationTechnologies 

^'la * • . 1 » «,** A WORLD LEADER !N PAPER PRESERVATION 

4 \ 111 Thomson Park Drive 

»**? S(*« ^ -v ^ V *i Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

•JsSftWi ^** :i (724)779 : 2 " _™J 




.0* ."£• > 



0> 'o • » ' .'V 

«i W « **» t * " " * ^ /nT 




